Illusions and changes
by FelliTraydor
Summary: Hachiman just left the Aquarium Park after the Valentine's 'date' and is on his way to pick up his sister. His mind is filled with troubles. Yukinoshita's request, the survival of the Service Club, Komachi's entry exam and his desire to find something genuine. Illusions and changes will walk together with him through this snowy evening and his high school life in the days to come.
1. Can this even be called an encounter?

"What an evening" I mumbled on my way to Sobu High School.

After Yuigahama and I listened to Yukinoshita's request, we agreed on a deadline.

Everyone would have 24 hours to think about it before we present our conclusions.

Sounds simple? It sure does. However in reality it is far from being simple.

Tomorrow's decision will not only determine how we will fulfill the request, but also how my third year in Sobu High will look like.

The outcome will change the relationships between the Service Club's members and that threatens the very existence of the club itself. Unlike the group of Miura and Hayama, we refused to keep the status quo alive with neverending little lies.

I still don't believe that their way is wrong, but it just does not work for us.

Or to be more specific, it doesn't work for me. My quest for the genuine thing blocks out this option. While I do not know what it is yet, I am certain that lies will never bring me forward on this path.

I have to be careful to not give into the guilt dwelling up in my consciousness. In reality it is this very wish of mine that forces that change and might not only end the club, but also the friendship between Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. It is not the fault of the club president's request.

I am well aware of the dangers that arise from this selfishness of mine. However this search is the conclusion of my second year in high school and it has become a core part of my identity.

Such an important matter and only 24 hours to conclude it. Who was the person that forced the deadline on us? Doesn't the idiot know how much I despise deadlines?

Oh right, it was me. I played through the usual joke in my mind to get rid of my gloomy mood.

But today was not a usual day, it didn't work. I had to set this short time limit to prevent everyone from thinking up a big scheme. Especially myself. The request doesn't need a big plan to be fulfilled anyway. What the solution needs is resolve.

Having reached this milestone in my thinking, I decided to give my mind some rest.

* * *

I looked around to perceive my surroundings. Needless to say it's dark by now on this afternoon on Valentine's Day. I hear the sound of snowflakes being crushed under my feet. Most of the couples would take it as a happy background melody for their love, but for me the sound fills me with fear and pain. I began to constantly apologise to the snow in like incoherent Buddhist prayers.

"I'm so sorry my brethren, I'm sorry, soo sorry."

It's only natural to empathise with something of your own kind. That's right I'm a unique little snowflake and I don't want to be crushed.

I wonder why my empathy for snow is higher than for humans, shouldn't those be technically more like my own kind? Then again, if a cute little kitten has been kicked out from cat society it could happen that even a dog takes it in. Oh my gosh! Did I just perfectly confirm that I am unique and cute? That's got to be the best day ever!

With a positive thought on my mind I finally arrived at Sobu High School. That might have been the first and most likely the last time for that to happen.

It wasn't exactly crowded but there were more people than usual for this time at the school gate entrance. I slipped inside and went to a spot from which I could observe the entrance to the school building without being close to the other waiting people.

After confirming that none of these adults, most likely parents who came to pick up their children after the entry exams, came close to me to strike up a conversation about the school, I sighed in relief. Lucky for me that I didn't wear my school uniform or even my stealth mode would have been useless.

My glance rested now on the doors of the school building and I waited for my sibling snowflake to come out as I drifted again into my own world. Certainly Komachi was a snowflake as well, but doesn't that contradict my previous conclusion of how I was being cute and unique? Maybe my analogy was wrong and it was Komachi who has been adopted by humans. Let's collect the facts one more time to be sure.

I'm a snowflake? Check. Komachi being a snowflake? Check. My parents? Urgh...I can't even begin to imagine that, no way that is true. On the other hand I only have a limited time of experience with my parents. Before having me and Komachi they could have been snowflakes before getting trampled on by society and formed them into the corporate slaves they are now. That picture works. I had to ditch the cute aspect, but I'm still a precious and unique snowflake. Victory is mine, Indeed a good day. But my fear to be trampled on skyrocketed.

Oh how I fear be crushed by society.

* * *

Participants of the entry exam started to come out of the school building. I had no interest in these random underclassmen aspirants. A lot of them would fail the exam anyway and it's not like I know any of my current ones either. Well, there is one exception, but since that one doesn't even seem to know my name, I can round it down to zero.

At least I think that is possible, I vaguely remember my teacher saying something like that... in second grade of elementary school. Sometimes even I am afraid of my lack of knowledge in maths. I really should study the basic calculations and how to estimate again at least.

Now I have done it, my mood hit rock bottom once more in the light of having to study maths. On my own accord even, why do I this to myself?

A familiar face entered my vision and pulled me out of my depressive thoughts.

I went up to my little sister and greeted her. "Yo."

Komachi looked exhausted, seeing me only lit up her face for a second before it crumbled back into the earlier expression. She tried to raise a hand but that fell back down again before it could remotely resembled a greeting as well.

"Looks like you had it tough, it's okay for you to relax now." Whether to be sad from the incomplete greeting or happy that she earnestly tried despite her condition, onii-chan is conflicted. Strangely the result is the same, My heart cried tears.

We started to go home, Komachi remained silent and her steps were shaky.

I had a bad premonition, but I won't pester her in that state and wordlessly offered my arm to stabilise her walking.

Instead of grabbing the arm she just held on to my sleeve. Every hint of my joy from earlier was blown away.

This is way too sad but I somehow managed to keep my tears sealed inside me for her.

We walked slowly, so slow that our parents should be home when we arrive.

We reached the front door and stopped. The excited voices of our parents could be heard from inside awaiting Komachi's return. I inserted the key into the keyhole and tried to confirm whether my sister was ready to face them or not.

She stood still, seems like she has no objection. Nothing good comes out from delaying to face reality.

The voices from inside stopped talking and were replaced by steps towards the door. They must have heard the key being pushed in. I sighed and turned the key.

After a click sound confirmed the door being unlocked Komachi threw the door wide open and stormed inside. She only got as far as like three steps though, before being stopped by the wall that our parents formed.

I was still outside and couldn't see Komachi's face from behind, but that wouldn't be needed. Her expression would be mirrored in the faces of father and mother any moment now.

I knew I would be too late to protect my little sister from this experience, but my onii-chan skills activated nonetheless. My feet automatically walked inside the house now, my body ready to shield Komachi from the vibes of disappointment which would wave in her direction.

However my feet came to stop when I saw our parents smiling. They must be saints to put that face on without any signs of cracks.

"I... I... " Komachi's stutter reached my ears.

She turned her head around to me "I think I did well!" With a broad smile she exclaimed to us.

My jaw dropped.

My mind went blank.

That damn devil! I was completely fooled.

While Komachi was tightly hugged by our parents, she didn't stop to look for my reaction.

I wanted to get really mad and shout at her, but honestly, I was too happy that she might not have failed.

Not that I would have survived the wrath of my father if I actually did something.

When she saw my face making a smile, she stuck out her tongue at me and began to hug my parents back.

I stand defeated, she knew exactly how wildly she could play with my heart without breaking it. Or perhaps not. Maybe she looked at me that long to check whether her prank went too far.

I guess I'll have to remind her to reduce the Komachi points later.

* * *

My parents felt generous and took us to eat at a restaurant tonight. Since Komachi had been busy with the exams today, no one bought ingredients to cook. That was probably the real reason for the decision to eat outside. Nothing noticeable happened, I kept to myself while my parents bombarded my sister with questions about the entry exam, to which she responded happily for a while.

I haven't paid any attention to the discussion, but suddenly I found myself in a life or death situation. Komachi suddenly requested my cellphone from me. Whether she grew tired of telling about her day, the fatigue from the exam kicked in or the food just took so long to be delivered to our table, I don't know. The request wasn't unusual so I was not reluctant to hand the phone over, but a gaze filled with killing intent made me stop in my movements. My father tried to offer his own phone to Komachi but she insisted on getting mine.

Did they have a fight just now? Damn, I ought to give more attention in these situations. I quickly went through my options. The first was to deny the request, but I'm pretty sure I would get attacked by mother and father immediately after. To do that to Komachi on her big day would certainly get me killed. Not like any other day wasn't my little sister's big day to my parents, but today it was even legit to me.

The second option was just to hand it over, that would make Komachi happy and my mother would at least not be unhappy with me. The only problem remaining was my father. Since no saving third option came to mind I gave in to Komachi's request and gambled on just to be half killed by the male corporate slave next to me. However no physical punishment came.

Have I just been saved by society simple because we were in a public place? That cannot be right, society is my enemy after all. Evidence of that was the long psychological torture that followed, namely the gaze that intensified further. I averted my face to observe the surprisingly interesting curtain next to the window. The colour, the form, the cleanliness... oh father please stop looking at me. I have just been robbed of my cellphone, blame the robber not me! I'm the victim here, so go easy on me okay? Since my mother didn't seem to be down there most likely wasn't a fight and it was Komachi showing our dad the usual cold shoulder.

* * *

Back at home my family went to bed immediately. However, I couldn't fall asleep yet, despite being tired. I grabbed a can of MAX Coffee and placed myself on the sofa in the living room. After taking a sip it was time to end the break in my thoughts.

Where did I stop again? Ah, resolve. The solutions we will come up with would be basically our wishes for the future. Yukinoshita's problem is easy to solve. Haruno and her mother just wanted to see growth in Yukinoshita. She herself wants it as well.

The issue was just with which method it will be made visible.

If we follow Yuigahama's way, she will bring us all to support Yukinoshita. Using the new friendships as proof of growth. She will claim victory, making me her boyfriend and use the price of the competition to force us into the illusion of status quo again.

I doubt that will work. Not only are Haruno and her mother not normal people. Friendships won't be enough for them, they'll look for a personal strength of value inside Yukinoshita.

The illusion will not last for long either. One cannot force the feelings of others to comply.

It would end in a disaster.

Yukinoshita's wish is to get her own special thing. Something that neither Haruno nor I have. Perhaps something that even her mother does not have. But she won't make it within a day. It is probably similar to my quest for something genuine. It might take a lifetime to acquire.

Being under the pressure of time, not just the deadline, but also by her sister and her mother, she might come to a false conclusion. Yukinoshita might mistake her reliance on me as love. Haruno is aware of that already. Undoubtedly her mother will see it as anything other than dependency as well. I don't know much about the Yukinoshita family, but dependency is most likely considered a capital weakness.

They will try to dominate Yukinoshita's life and might even send her abroad again to study. Destroying the Service Club in the process and her life.

In the end the club's future, my sanctuary in the hard high school life, depends on me.

The sound of an opened door stopped my train of thought. Komachi entered the living room, passed through it to grab a drink from the kitchen and sat next to me.

"Why are you still awake? You should welcome your earned rest." She seemed to have problems opening the conversation after the prank she pulled off earlier.

Thus I made it easier for her, being the good brother that I am.

Being remembered of the prank though made me heart cry again.

Taking the hook I threw out for her, she sported her usual teasing grin "Onii-chan, it was impossible for me to close my eyes when I sensed your own restlessness over this huge distance! Ah, my Komachi points are pretty high right now!"

Predictable my little sister, time to for your brother to show some resistance!

"On any other day that might have been the case, but you got a huge reduction in points when we got home." I should probably apologise to every rebel group for being this pathetic.

It's not my fault that I can only attack her indirectly. Society is at fault for cherishing the younger children. My parents are really scary when someone is mean to Komachi. Source: me.

She placed her hand against the back of her head and let out a shy stuttering laugh.

"Haha, ha, ha that was really a bit much..." After that short glimpse of reflection she already went for an all out attack. "...but I only did it to get you back to earth. Having a Valentine's date while your sister is struggling so much in school? Do you know no shame?!"

For a moment her eyes really looked stern and I apologised on the spot. "Sorry..."

Most likely she just thought up the reason right now. There is no way she was troubled by it during the exam. After all I received Yuigahama's call after we separated...

"Wait, how do you know if it?!" I quickly stood up from the sofa pointing at my little sister's face which held a 'Ooops, I messed up' expression.

"Don't you remember? I played with your phone at the restaurant and found the picture of you posing in front of a shark."

Argh, but I wanted to boast about it. The picture, not the date.

"Pretty cool right?"

"Yes, I'm so jealous, I wanted to go with you!"

I froze on the spot, a little sister who wanted to spend Valentine's day rather with her brother instead of poisonous insects, I'm moved to tears.

"I admit, your points got up again" Onii-chan is so weak, I'm sorry rebels.

Komachi's tiredness disappeared completely from her face upon hearing it and pressed on.

"So how was it and with whom did you go?"

"Yuigahama called, she also invited Yukinoshita. So it wasn't a real date. As for how it went, I guess they had fun with the fishes."

Komachi's face grew darker with every additional information I provided.

"Onii-chan, that is way harder to gulp than my prank. I had so much hope in you when I saw the picture."

"T-That is your own fault when you ask about reality. Of course it's going to burst dreamy bubbles." Why do I have to rebut my little sister's illusions about my love life again?

Even Komachi sighed at this return.

"What happened during it that makes you sit here this late?"

Huh, how did you conclude that these two things are connected? Even I know that this comeback is too weak to be voiced.

"It will take some time to explain, do you still want to listen?" She nodded.

Thus I explained the Yuigahama's show-off at the end of the 'date' and my conclusion so far.

Komachi listened to the end, the smile she had in the beginning was replaced by a serious look at some point.

"Fuu, that is some complicated situation. Onii-chan can you preserve the club for me in case I get accepted?"

I see, that must have been part of why she aimed for Sobu High, and here I thought she struggled so hard just out of love for her brother. Reality is truly cruel.

"I will try my best, but I still have to think of a way, so leave me alone and get some sleep now." The last part came out stricter than I had intended to, but it has gotten so late and she looked like she would fall asleep any moment.

Komachi probably understood my concern for her. Without a sign of disapproval she got up from the sofa and went to the door. Before closing it we exchanged a good night.

Despite my words I fell asleep on the sofa without finding any specific solution.

* * *

Saturday, only 5 hours till we have to gather and present a solution.

Contrary to my usual behaviour I escaped Komachi's inquiring gaze and went outside.

Still without an answer, but I made some progress. At least I got the direction figured out.

Whatever the solution will be, it needs to be something Yukinoshita can do, something that Haruno and her mother can accept and something which does not destroy the club.

Changes in the relationships of the club members are unavoidable at this time. Yuigahama made it clear that she seeks a conclusion, Yukinoshita's request only delayed it and gave us time to prepare ourselves.

Somehow I ended up at the mall while I was lost in my thoughts. Weird that my feet dragged me to such a crowded place. Did I think so deeply that my loner nature was canceled?

While I am already here, I might as well check out a bookstore.

In my search for the bookstore the word 'nature' somehow stayed on my mind.

Inside I automatically went to the animal section and randomly picked up a book about birds.

I skimmed through the book till my eyes were fixed on one picture.

A mother bird flying together with a child, while another chick was dead on the ground.

While not perfect, I now had a method to deal with all problems of the Yukinoshita's and half the issue of the Service Club. The only thing I couldn't deal with yet were Yuigahama's feelings.

I ran out of time to think about that. Truly, who was the Idiot to set the deadline again? Truth to be told, even if I had ten years worth of time, I most likely would not have figured out a way to prepare for that.

"Feelings are really hard to deal with Hiratsuka-sensei..."

I took my cellphone from my pocket and made a call. My trembling hand and my high-pitched voice were probably only my imagination.

* * *

Time was up, the members of the Service Club gathered in a remote part of a park. It wasn't likely for any stranger to disturb the meeting.

The atmosphere was tense. After a short exchange of greetings, Yuigahama moved as expected. She concentrated on Yukinoshita to accept her friendship plan. I listened carefully not to miss a single word. In the beginning Yukinoshita was still able to hold her ground, but Yuigahama was relentless. She didn't only press on with her words but also closed the distance to Yukinoshita with every sentence.

"Say Yukinon, you don't have to go through this alone, you know?"

Yuigahama was now close enough to grab her friend's hand. It was the fourth time she said this line, marking the start of another round of the same reasoning. Her words weren't that persuasive by themselves. It was the way she goes on that created the pressure. With every cycle Yukinoshita's responses became shorter and more soft-spoken. Against every other person she would have snapped back by now destroying the opponents momentum. Yuigahama was a special case though. She was her only close friend.

"But mother won't..." She tried to talk back, even made her first step back to free her hand, but Yuigahama cut in once more, taking two more step and kept hold of the arm now.

"Oh, let's call Iroha-chan as well. You two have become quite close as well."

At this point Yuigahama completely ignored Yukinoshita's comeback attempts. I honestly cannot tell anymore whether this is a planned strategy or impulsive acts. If it's the former, Yuigahama would be way more ruthless than I imagined her to be. The physical pressure kept Yukinoshita in her place and even her words, a loners only weapon, were brushed off.

"Isshiki-san? My sister knows her, that won't..." Yukinoshita's longest response in a while. It looks like she put all of her remaining strength into this as I didn't have to strain my ears to hear it properly.

"Then we include Sai-chan as well. We had so much fun at my birthday party after all, and he helped out with the club too!" By now she must have mentioned everyone except for Zaimokuza.

Weak to the pressure Yukinoshita's resolve began to fall apart. Even without the pressure, she had no hard defense to speak of. Her wish was as vague as mine. The frequency of her moist glances to me increased and she would be the first to speak of our feelings at this rate. I seemed to be her last option.

That is wrong though. I need to intercept now while we are still rational. The feelings should be addressed at the end.

"Yuigahama" I tried to speak with my normal deep and slow voice that lacked emotions. It shouldn't be too hurtful for Yuigahama if I interrupt her with it. "if you have finished to outline your proposal, I will start with mine now."

Yuigahama's eyes started to get as teary as Yukinoshita's. She was sure to win if she continued, but she had no real argument to deny me my turn, as she just kept going on with her one theme of friendships.

"Hikki..." After her previous energetic talking, I barely missed this quiet voice. As if unsure whether her words reached me she nodded her head.

Yukinoshita's face lit up in anticipation that I would save her.

I apologised to her in my mind before I started.

"As I said yesterday, Yukinoshita has to solve her problems herself." I looked for reactions, but it seems they already knew myself well enough to know that there would be more to come than a lame repeat. So I went on.

"Yuigahama, you are right. Yukinoshita changed and has now friends and a good amount of acquaintances." Yuigahama's face became brighter for a second and it pains me to crush that hope again. "But it is not her own strength. It is borrowed and her family will not deem it enough. I'm sure you don't want them to take her away from the club, the school or even the country."

Both of them had a painful look on her face with their brows furrowed. It seems that this consequence did not cross their mind yet. I had to push on, I needed to cut off the escape routes. Yuigahama's idea was the first...

"That is why it must be Yukinoshita herself who solves the problem. Not you…"

Yuigahama started to sob. I changed my gaze to Yukinoshita.

"..nor me."

...me not being able to help her was the second.

Upon realising that I was not her saviour the she started to sob as loud as her friend.

"..but how can I do that? Each and every time you picked up the burden! Even after you inquired our help for the Christmas event, it was you who had the ideas!"

Yukinoshita's self-confidence suffered with each fulfilled request by me. Her dependency became so big that she doesn't even blame herself anymore. It definitely wasn't the Yukinoshita that I first encountered and respected.

My own eyes started to sting. I needed to get my points across before I end up in the same state as them.

Yukinoshita was a strong girl, that was my illusion of her. To solve her issues, that illusion must prove to be reality.

Walking her own path was the only option still available.

"You can do that by being yourself."

Yuigahama was thrown into confusion. At least that stopped her sobbing.

"Yukinon is Yukinon, right?"

That alone is not even worth to be written inside a fortune cookie, one needs to fill the saying with a meaning.

"… but who am I?" Yukinoshita murmured. Distracted by thoughts, her sobbing ceased as well. Her free hand reached up to her chin. Who knew that an everyday action by her can cause me such relief.

Now that is a mood in which we can achieve results.

"You should tell us that, if you don't want to be taken away." Inwardly I was ashamed of myself to have brought up the fear again.

"You once said that you wanted to change the world and the people in it, do you still want to do that?"

Her eyes widened, looks like she recognised her own words. Back than during the first days in the club room, these words carried the power of a goal or perhaps even a dream. I bet everything on that initial resolve of hers, that of the strong Yukinoshita.

A small word escaped her lips.

"...yes" She tilted her head, trying to find out where I was going with it. Yuigahama remained silent, not recognising the words we spoke. Understandable. These words were spoken before her first visit to the club room. If I had looked carefully in her eyes that moment I was sure to see clues of a shock. It didn't came to me at first, but this really seemed to be like a meaningful secret just between Yukinoshita and I.

Dreams are vague, but her family needs something concrete to accept Yukinoshita's way of life. Of course anyone would be confused at first when confronted with a dream, thus I got specific.

"How do you want to do it? Becoming a politician? A lawyer?"

I continued to ask her afterwards till the talk developed his own flow. After her initial confusion of what I wanted to hear from her disappeared Yukinoshita was able to formulate her goal clearly.

I forced her to go backwards. Step by step on how to reach it. What needed to be studied, which university was renowned for that subject and the likes. All the way down to the third high school year.

Forgotten were the cramped heart and sobs as Yuigahama looked up at Yukinoshita with dazzling eyes.

"You're amazing, I have no idea yet what to do myself." She grabbed Yukinoshita's arm again and snuggled up to her.

Yukinoshita's face became flustered, but doubt still lingered on her mind.

"Will this be enough to please mother?"

"No." My answer startled the two. "Just thinking up a plan for your life is not what they want. They want you to start acting. Only thinking on your own is not even considered the first step in their eyes."

I have to push her out of the nest now and I can only hope that she will fly.

"You will have to take the first step together with them to give peace to their mind. That is why I called her here."

I turned my head and their gazes followed mine. Haruno Yukinoshita walked up to us.

Yukinoshita looked at my, her gaze had the usual cold. She looked definitely angry.

"Why did you do that?"

"That's the training method you used on everyone else so far, but you never used it on yourself. Jump into the cold water and struggle till you succeed."

Before Haruno closed the distance I added one more line of encouragement. "Show her who you are."

Then I said my goodbye "I will see you at the club."

* * *

I left the park, Yuigahama most likely did the same. I did not wait for her, but she probably would not have followed me anyway. Despite her claiming to be unfair, her true personality was that of a nice girl. We postponed the talk about our feelings, but only till the next club activity. After Yukinoshita had talked with Haruno and her mother. She will wait these two more days.

At least so I thought, but when my phone vibrated I couldn't say I was calm at all.

I panicked, a lot.

Luckily it was just my mother sending me a message.

"Komachi has to relax properly for a while, so be sure to buy the groceries from now on..."

I read the message out loud. A second message came in, a long list of what to buy and which supermarket to go.

I'm probably just as tired as Komachi right now, can't I rest properly too?

With a sigh I went on my way. After all, if I don't go Komachi would stay hungry.

The shopping at the supermarket went smoothly. It's not like it was the first time for me to do the shopping. Before Komachi took over, it was my duty originally.

That was quite some time ago if I think about it. Damn, now I feel as old as Hiratsuka-sensei.

After I gathered everything on the list I was about to make my way to the register when suddenly familiar blonde curls entered my vision. The bare legs stretching out from under the miniskirt confirmed the identity of the owner pretty much but I took one more moment of observation to be completely sure. Miura Yumiko dressed up as gaudy as ever, but I better leave before she notices me. Most likely she would mistake me for a stalker, if she didn't already. When I think about it, I had been staring at Miura's group a lot ever since we got into class F this school year.

Also meeting classmates outside of school always ends up as a bad memory.

Although the situation in school this year is not as bad as usual. I probably could deal with meeting a few classmates. Like Totsuka, Totsuka or Totsuka, but Miura was not on that list.

I stole one more glance at her on my way to the register. After I had paid for the groceries my way lead me straight home.

At least I will get a full day of rest before the fate of the club will be decided on Monday.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Greetings,**

 **First, clearly this is set directly after Volume 11 of the Light Novel. Second, with that said my fanfiction will be based on the LN. Characters will behave accordingly.  
**

 **The LN offers more material for Hachiman and Yumiko than one would expect. I got that feeling already while I was reading it for the first time. In order to prepare properly for this fanfiction I extracted all these scenes with dialogue, thoughts or reactions from the LN series and all extra stories I could find. This amounted into a 75 pages word-document. I will stick closely to this material.**

 **Liberties I take will be along the line of when Hachiman speaks with others and Yumiko is nearby. I will decide whether she heard the conversation or not (like the birthday talk in V4). Or I will emphasise meanings in certain reactions/thoughts or sentences, but I won't go against the meaning, unless I have enough reasons to declare it a joke or dishonesty by Hachiman.**

 **So for those who did not read the LN I will say two things. Apart from V1 he never even thinks one bad word towards Yumiko. Changes like these from the first Volume are common practice in LNs when they turn out to be successful and become a longer series and thus the 'stupid' will be ignored by me since it never returns in the 10+ Volumes afterwards. So don't expect it here.**

 **Hachiman observes the group of Miura a lot, and in most cases he refers to it as Miura's group rather than Hayama's group. (ratio is about 5:1). In nearly every observation on the group he comments on her, what she looks like or does, even when she is not his 'target' caused by requests or is part of his interest of the day. No one else in that group gets that much attention during these observations. It's justified to say that he has a crush on her looks. At one point he even called it a 'one-sided relationship' in his thoughts. This clearly didn't meant that he will dance with a pillow inside his room while thinking of her, but more like he is aware of himself having concerns for her while she does not for him. [The context of the scene was that one of Miura's action saved him temporary from the Sagami aftermath as side-effect.]**

 **There are a lot of other things, but those I will explain during my fanfiction either by directly referring to them inside the story or via a footnote.**

 **I will try my best not to leave Anime-only viewers behind.**

 **Till next chapter, if someone wants.**


	2. Can this even be called a conversation?

Satisfied I closed the book which I just finished to read. While I didn't close the book in an exaggerated way, the sound it caused echoed painfully loud through the empty house. After an apology to the silence I just disturbed, my way led to me to the kitchen.

To quench my thirst, that had build up during my read, I opened a can of MAX Coffee and took a sip.

Luckily the trip back to the sofa was as uneventful as the journey to the kitchen. I seated myself properly on it and took another sip before I exhaled a long breath.

My thoughts traveled back to yesterday's evening. Of course Komachi questioned me immediately how everything turned out. I could only reply that I wouldn't really know till the next meeting of the club. Clearly worried my sister picked up her phone, but after hearing me say that I didn't feel like it went completely wrong, she put it away again.

I wonder who of the two she was about to call first.

The day was so tiring that I had no choice but to sleep early.

Which brings me back to today. Sunday. Only a Sunday can make this idyll possible.

My parents took Komachi off to somewhere in order to reward her once more for the entry exam. You know my dear parents, she only got a feeling that it went well. We won't get the official result for a few weeks to come. There is really no reason to spoil her that much.

And why wasn't I even asked to come along?

Not that I would have even if they did. Who would ruin his Sunday by going outside? Not a single sane person. That's for sure.

The only problem with Sunday was the unpleasant shadow an evil creature named Monday would cast.

Normally.

Despite the book being as good as it was, I couldn't really relax like usual while I had read it.

My glance set once more on today's enemy. An action that interrupted my reading several times.

Low battery, no new messages. That thing behaved like every other day. It can't fool me though. I had good reasons to believe that it would attack me with a call soon. If not today, then tomorrow, or any day after.

This uncertainty really took a toil on me. However I knew that the call itself and everything which would follow was way more stressful than the uncertainty I felt at the moment. Having thought about it for too long, my mood was ruined. I better distract myself with a short study session. Halfway to my room I stopped in my tracks. I went back to take my phone along with me.

Ignoring it would put me in an unimaginably dire situation after all. I was so scared trying to think about possible consequences that it was no small feat to have arrived safely at my room. My legs were shaking so much as if they were made out of jelly.

Before my door was completely shut, Kamakura's snore reached my ears. The cat slept without a care in the world in front of Komachi's door. I sighed.

* * *

"Cold." A fresh breeze kept my eyes closed. I was shivering and tried to turn my body into the direction from where the wind was blowing. The window needs to be shut as quickly as possible or I'll freeze.

But no matter how much I turned around I couldn't figure the origin of the breeze out.

I felt surrounded. It came from everywhere.

I forced my eyes open and was dumbfounded. This isn't my home, I'm outside! How could this happen? On a Sunday no less.

Tired of the long study session I was half asleep when Komachi and my parents returned home in the afternoon. I vaguely remember how she announced her wish to eat Namerou.[1] Despite me having bought a long list of groceries yesterday, we apparently didn't have all ingredients needed for this dish. I don't recall whether I was pushed out forcefully by my father or if I gave in and accepted my new task. Maybe it was a mixture of both. It was one of Chiba's famous foods after all and tasty on top of it.

Mother and Komachi insisted on me going to the same grocery store as yesterday, apparently that's the place to go for the best balance of quality and cheap prices. Since I had to bring back the receipt I had no choice but to go all the way to this rather far away supermarket.

I wouldn't be surprised if a complaining Yuki-onna[2] would pass me along the way.

It really was that cold.

* * *

Inside the grocery store I found the horse mackerel and flying fish quite quickly. I raised my gaze along with the last fish needed for our dinner tonight until suddenly familiar ringlets came into view. Our eyes clearly met this time. I could tell because hers widened in surprise. Mine must have as well. Thanks to the freezing cold I had completely forgotten that I saw her shopping here yesterday. Now was a good time to panic.

Mahapadma! [3]

As if a normal meeting wouldn't be bad enough already, Miura was quite some distance away. We were separated by three rows. I was at the hip-high freezer for fish, while she was at the fruit section behind a multistorey chest-high shelf. In-between was another row of hip-high freezers filled with meat, but I couldn't care less about that now.

I was tempted to ask what she has done to be send outside on this frosty afternoon. I remembered in time that she always goes outside with bare legs on display so I refrained from inquiring. Miura must be immune to the cold and thus her parents had no ill thought for doing so. Unlike my father who sacrificed his son to the snow just to have more Komachi-time. I would have probably abused my authority in the same way if I had any.

Also, calling out to her at this distance might attract the attention of half the supermarket. I better spare her the shame of publicly announcing to the other customers that she is in any form related to me. Haven't I been way too mean to myself here?

Since a verbal greeting was out of question and a gesture could be seen by others as well, I went for the last option available.

It was impossible for me to say how long this moment lasted. I had no idea how long I thought or if my ability to stop the time actually worked, but for some reason we averted our faces at the exact same time. A wave of relief came over me, signaling that my choice was correct. With my gaze not longer locked to her green eyes I caught a glimpse of her legs between the multistorey shelf when I turned my face away.

I made my way to the register, paid and left the supermarket as fast as I could.

It was only outside I could finally relax my stiffened body, but only for a second, before I was hit by very chilling breeze. Miura's legs came into my mind again. She was either crazy to put her public image above her health or she really was immune to this weather.

My own legs started to wander towards home, glad that their owner covered them with clothes. My thoughts roamed as well and stopped at Miura's eyes.

I wonder if I had ever stared into her eyes that long before. Well since I couldn't tell how long I actually did it this time, there is no way for me to answer my question. But since I had nothing to do as I walked, I thought back on the occasions were I had seen her humongous eyes in the past. When my mind came across a certain image my feet nearly stopped moving for a second.

Miura with the eyes of a panda. She had rubbed her eyes, which were painted black with mascara and eyeliner, too strongly with her sleeve. When the make-up crumbled, it was then that I first truly thought that Miura Yumiko was a cute girl.[4]

Sure, I labeled her cute before, but somehow those times were different. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's the girl part that had changed and added to her cuteness. Before the career plan request I saw her more of a woman on top of the far away and highest caste at our school. The image of a normal girl, usually not more than five meters away in class, was unthinkable back then. Since I was forced to join the Service Club I have seen a few sides of Miura that I had not known before. This school year was rather eventful and I can understand why Komachi was so set on entering Sobu High. Surely the number one reason was because of me, but my tales of the club should have an honourable mention when it comes to explain her decision.

I somehow felt warmer on my way back home than towards the grocery store. Must be due to my goal being a heated place right now.

* * *

Home is the place to be. Not only is it the place where little sisters eagerly await the return of their brothers, but also where one can shamelessly use the kotatsu to its fullest.[5]

Today the first part was rather lacking though. I didn't really expect to be welcomed with an overjoyed greeting and a passionate hug, but being completly ignored by Komachi, who was immersed in a magazine for female teenagers, was very depressing.

Onii-chan just went through a snowy hell to fulfill a certain princess' wish, you know? To save myself from feeling down, I came to the conclusion that she must be focused on an article of how to become an even better sister. Komachi was the best, I knew it all along.

At least no one disturbed my revitalisation under the kotatsu till dinner was ready.

My father sneakily seated himself next to Komachi who did no attempt at relocating herself today. The trip with our parents must had been to her liking.  
Oi father, you're looking way too happy here. What's with the victory vibes you send towards me? Picking up a fight?  
My mother, who was still in the preparation to set the table, suddenly spoke to me.

"Seeing you actually helping out with the chores for once brought back some memories."

Wasn't the wording a bit too mean mother? It's not like I never do something, or did my previous deeds expire after only five years?  
I guess I really have no right to be offended this time. Just as I was about to mentally apologise to my mother I remembered something.  
Didn't I order and pick up the party barrel from KFC before Christmas? Now I am kind of miffed, but I'll let it slide. Getting upset over your work not being recognised only leads to more work.

"Well, I would be in a tight spot if Komachi ends up getting sick by going outside in her current state."

Whenever someone mentions 'chores' or 'work' I was on my guard. I'll give vague responses till I knew what they were scheming. I didn't avoid chores for the last five years by chance. Wait, I'm proud of it now? I successfully exorcised the evil spirit, called guilty conscience, and returned to my normal self.  
My mother gave me a puzzled look.

"What do you mean by that?"

I meant the shopping is merely an exception. As soon as Komachi has recovered, I won't lift a finger ever again. Of course I didn't say that out loud.

"She pushed herself quite hard with the studying these past months. Isn't it easy for a burned out person to catch a cold in this weather? If that were to happen I would miss out on her tasty cooking for a while."

I took a glance over to Komachi for confirmation by how much my Hachiman points went up, but there was no reaction. Still looking at her magazine she might have not even heard our conversation. My effort of praising her was totally wasted.

It wasn't like my words had no effect at all. Father's frown increased tenfold. You're jealous pops? My Hachiman points with him probably hit rock bottom years ago, so I didn't really care.  
Did my mother's face lit up for a second? Was it just my imagination? I wasn't sure. Damn it, I got carried away and forgot who my current opponent was for a moment.  
It was too late to read anything from her face once I put all my attention back to her.  
She nonchalantly continued our conversation.

"Oh, what about your cooking? It's been a while since I got to eat that, did you improve?"

My heart stopped for a moment and the alarm went off inside my head. Cold sweat started to run down my back. If only I had paid attention. I have to chose my next words wisely.

While I was still collecting myself Komachi answered in my stead.

"He still has the most distinguished cooking skills among sixth graders of the country."[6] She flashed me an overtly brightly smile as if to signal me that there was no way her points wouldn't go up with that. Onii-chan is truly happy that you grasp the worth of this achievement, but unfortunately there are people, like Yukinoshita, who cannot understand this. Also you were listening to the conversation all along huh?

I turned my head back to mom expecting to see a displeased expression or at best a wry smile, but to my surprise she seemed happy.  
Was she one of the few to understand? My affection for her skyrocketed as I saw her off to the kitchen where she was about to get the last plates.

"Oh, in that case – Komachi would you be so kind and teach him till the new school year starts?"

So she deemed it not enough after all? Then why did she make a face like that before?

Then it struck me. That smile wasn't meant for me but for herself. So she really had a hidden agenda and to show it so openly my mother was sure to have me trapped.

I won't go down that easily. But just when I wanted to voice my objection I got distracted by the view in front of me.

Komachi seemed to be fine with mom's suggestion and had a grin on her face. Next to her my father's displeasure at the thought of me spending more time alone with my sister was unduly. There should be a limit to that, you know? I'm still her brother, pops.  
So far nothing unusual and I wouldn't have even paid any attention to it if it weren't for what followed.

Synchronously both of their faces switched to a neutral expression. Only their eyebrows closing in together gave away that they were apparently thinking hard. After five more seconds another switch occurred. My father now with a smile, you don't see that often, nodded his head to mom's suggestion while my sister looked liked she accidentally drank milk two weeks over its day of expiry.

Were they on to mother's thinking?

"Nah, I don't want to."

I ignored Komachi's monotonous voice of refusal as best as I could and tried to follow their reasoning. It really hurt though.

I was on pretty good terms with my sister and her initial grin proved that she had no qualms with the superficial meaning of mom's words. So at fault was mother's ulterior motive. Pops would only be happy if I spend less time with Komachi and not more. Which means..

NAIVE! I was so focused on avoiding a bit of extra work that I didn't see the bigger picture.

Being able to cook for yourself is the first step into independence. My parents want to chase me out of home. You can't do that! The outer world was scary, that's why remained inside in the first place.  
No wonder Komachi had that expression on. She doesn't want to be separated from her onii-chan. My sister is the cutest in the world. I don't want to part with you or the home either. At least for the next 50 years.

Meanwhile my mother had returned from the kitchen and sat down next to me.

"Why not? Ah, we could buy you the dress you liked as compensation for your efforts."

"Really?! I'll do it!" So the little devil sold our joint future out this easily. [7]

However I won't give in so easily.

"Mom, we shouldn't bother Komachi with something like that while she still recovers."

"Don't worry, it will be a big help for her in the long run." She replied immediately.

How can being separated from her brother be of any help to her? I stared fiercely in my mother's eyes. Even I had a limit of what I could take.  
Either she was immune to my frown or didn't get what I wanted to convey, but she suddenly started talking to me as if I were a little kid that didn't understand.

"You know, getting into Sobu High was just the first step. She will have to study more than in middle school once the new school year starts. If you want your sister to stay healthy and be the energetic person she is, you'll have to do a small part as well from now on."

I got caught in her trap. There was no way I could talk myself out of this. I turned my head to my sister.

Komachi was my impetus, there was no denying that. I couldn't endure a zombie-like Komachi for three years. As I thought about it, I felt a single tear saying goodbye to my eye and traveling down my cheek.  
With a whisper I accepted my defeat.

"Fine, I'll do it."

I had to close my eyes afterwards. My sisters eyes sparkled so brightly upon my words. I'm glad you understand that it was no small sacrifice, but this view was too charming to face directly.

So I lost. But there is no one better at losing than I am.

I reminded myself of my old mantra that I hadn't used in a while. Others might think of it as depressing but in my case it provides me with the motivation to stand up after a loss.

It's not like I gained nothing. Sooner or later I would have needed to improve my cooking anyway. Even if I won't become a full-time house husband I needed to support myself for the days Komachi wouldn't come over to cook for me.[8] Huh?! That sounded wrong, of course I'll become a house husband. Hiratsuka-sensei, stop messing with my dream![9] Despite her being so meddlesome I wonder if I could ever get mad at her.

Oh, I nearly missed the most important point. Mother was clearly arguing for Komachi's sake. That means my sister, pops and I put too much thought into it. I won't get chased out of home so quickly after all. Realising this a smile formed on my face. For people unable to read my mind this must had been misunderstood as direct reaction to my sister's sparkling eyes.

What a heartwarming scene that must had been. I could only guess as I was still unable to open my eyes.

* * *

Inside my classroom I collapsed on my table. Unlike with usual Mondays my mood wasn't that bad today. I felt no gazes on my back from Miura so we must have formed some kind of nonverbal pact to ignore yesterday's incident.

I don't know how, I don't know when. Dealing with humans can be so confusing.

Not like it was totally unexpected. We barely talked with each other to begin with, and from her perspective it was just a one time coincidence. The first meeting at the grocery store completely escaped her attention after all.

More importantly than the absent gazes at my back was the fact that I was a proud owner of a phone that never rings. [10]  
Knowing that even that person wouldn't bother me while I was in class, I could truly relax for the first time since Saturday.  
Homeroom started, but I paid no attention to it. It would have been wasted effort anyway. Homeroom wasn't needed for my university life after high school at all.

I walked towards the clubroom after waking up with more than half of the class already gone. The relaxation felt so good that I fell asleep at some point during the last period. Thanks to that I wasn't that anxious of today's meeting. Wasn't there something super important? After all the effort I put into saving this club I shouldn't get careless now.

I opened the door and was surprised to see only Yukinoshita inside. She looked up from her book and greeted me with a soft smile.

"Good afternoon."

"Sup."

After my lazy reply I went into my usual spot while Yukinoshita continued her book.  
While I pulled out my own book I decided to ask her.

"Yuigahama won't be coming today?" I don't think I saw her back at the classroom among the leftovers.

Yukinoshita sent me a questioning look. Don't tell me her existence got erased or I ended up in an alternate universe without knowing. [11] Who is Yuigahama?

"She has a cold and won't be coming to school this week."

I looked at her with eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh." I didn't expect that.

Yukinoshita pressed her hand against her temple. Seemingly convinced that I really didn't know, her expression turned into a complicated smile.

It sure was a complicated situation now. Yuigahama was kind of required to confirm the results of Saturday's events. I really didn't know what to do so I escaped reality by reading my book. Yukinoshita was actually the first one to do so and I gladly followed her lead.

Her bond with Yuigahama was strong, so she probably would not tell me even if I asked.

It's kind of the reversed situation from the time we met Yukinoshita's mother after the Valentine baking event. Yuigahama didn't stay with me either after we got separated from Yukinoshita.

There was just a slight difference. We continued to stay in the same clubroom and that made things awkward.

I couldn't read at all. I just flipped the pages after a certain amount of time. Yukinoshita continuously took glances at me from the corners of her eyes. I felt very uncomfortable. If you want to talk about it then just talk. I promise to look surprised next week. Just when I wondered how to survive this afternoon, let alone the whole week in this atmosphere, the door flung open.

Isshiki stormed in. Woohoo I'm saved! I don't think I was ever that happy to see her, but I quickly regretted that. She stomped in my direction without any greetings, but with a sullen look.

She stopped in front of me with her hands on her hips.

Her cheeks puffed and her eyes were watery, she looked like someone did something really bad to her. It made me feel like beating up that certain someone and make him apologise for whatever he did.

"Senpai, you're so sloooooow."

Huh? I was the one at fault? That was the third time since entering the clubroom that I was truly surprised. Were we supposed to meet? I have no recollection of that. Even if we were to meet up, wasn't I clearly here before you?

"Isshiki-san had already been here before, but she had to leave for student council related work. However she didn't tell me why she was here in the first place."

Yukinoshita placed her hand at her chin wondering about Isshiki's intention.

When it was Isshiki there were only two reasons why she would show up. The first was to laze around while escaping the student council work. The second one was to ask for help with said work when it couldn't be escaped.

The former wouldn't require me being here on time.

"So what do you need help with?" I asked her directly.

"It's not like I always come here for help, you knooow?" Isshiki started to act like she would be sulking, but quickly averted her face.

"This time that is actually why I'm here though." She was probably annoyed of my correct assumption.

The sentence was the signal for Yukinoshita to close her book and look at her underclassman with a stern look.

"If you have a request for the Service Club you could have said so earlier."

Her cold voice definitely contained displeasure. Is she mad that Isshiki didn't rely on her?

You know that frosty vibe you give off right now doesn't make anyone want to ask you for help. I felt my sweat turning into ice. It wasn't a surprise that Isshiki took refuge by my side.

Hey, don't use me as your shield, I'm scared too. Also, you're too close. That sweet smell of yours is making me dizzy. With her hands on my shoulder she peeked at the club president's face which turned even colder after witnessing the student council president's retreat.

As the temperature in the clubroom dropped further, Isshiki's hands grabbed my shoulder even tighter and her face came all the more closer. If I had turned my head towards her, our noses would have touched. Imagining that was more than my feeble high school heart could manage and my face heated up quite a bit.

I don't know how strongly I blushed, but it was enough to snap Yukinoshita out of this neverending cycle. Apparently flustered she averted her gaze.

"Y-You should step away from that before you get an infection."

"Stop treating me as a germ, that seriously hurts." Why did I become the new target? Wasn't I the victim here? Isshiki relaxed upon the change of the mood and sighed briefly. Her warm breath hit my cheek with full force.

Iroha-chan you totally did that on purpose, didn't you?

"I don't want to bother the club, just senpai will be enough."

So bothering me was fine? I was part of the club too. But before I could voice my refusal Isshiki had already grabbed my sleeve and started pulling me towards the door.

Had she been always this strong? I was barely able to seize my bag before it was out of reach.

"Wait! I'm coming as well." The startled Yukinoshita tried to stop my kidnapper, but she waved it off.

"No need, no need. It's about the graduation ceremony farewell speech, senpai is qualified for once." I was dragged two steps closer to the door, before Yukinoshita made another attempt.

"If you talk about qualification, I would be the best choice as I ranked the highest in Japanese." What happened to grades and ranks didn't matter? And quit that proud grin will you? Oh, I just remembered something.

"Didn't you agree with Hiratsuka-sensei to do the farewell speech on your own?"[12]

Isshiki stopped in her tracks and her powerful grab on my sleeve turned into a light tugging.

When she turned around to me her eyes were already welling up tears.

Just like the last time this theme came up, this onii-sama grew totally weak to this approach.

"I guess it should be fine if I just check for mistakes and tell her of the previous year." I said to Yukinoshita and saw her trying to hold back another headache.

"Then let me do the correction." Looks like Yukinohita had no intention on giving up. She put her book in her bag and stood up from the chair.

Was Isshiki and I being alone that much of an issue to her? Come to think of it, those two had been sticking around when I had to deal with Isshiki a few times recently. That even lead Isshiki to back off me as well. Was she scared of them or considerate? They didn't threaten her right?

Will Isshiki give up when Yuigahama wasn't around as well?

The student council president already had one hand on the door. She turned her face towards Yukinoshita.

"I prefer senpai coming with me. You know, like someone who knows how to reduce the workload. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your offer, but I fear you'll make me do more than necessary. Wouldn't it be bad too if someone came to an empty clubroom?"

Her smile was gentle and her voice was as sweet as ever when she dealt with other people that weren't me or Tobe. However her strong grip on my sleeve revealed that she was annoyed by Yukinoshita's stubbornness. Despite that, she remained amicable and careful not to hurt the club president.

Iroha Isshiki was a good girl.

No, no, I didn't mean you Tobe. [13]

It was unlikely that Yukinoshita saw through Isshiki, so I guess the point of leaving the clubroom unattended during service hours had an impact.

Yukinoshita sat down and took out her book again.

With a worried face she said something that could have meant goodbye.

"Be sure to do it properly."

I don't know if my nod was one of affirmation or apology. Perhaps both.

With the situation defused Isshiki and I headed to the student council room.

* * *

Isshiki started to write the speech while I sat next to her. We had been silent all the way to the student council room. Even inside the room we remained silent. Since Secretary-chan and Vice President weren't in the room, there had been no situation that would end the silence naturally.

Apparently the situation in the clubroom affected Isshiki quite a bit.

She deserved to be cheered up, so I tried praising her.

I didn't mind the silence, just Isshiki's mood.

"You're quite good at dealing with people. If I weren't a loner I would learn that from you."

She stopped her writing to look at me. There was a pained smile on her face that I barely got to see. I suddenly had the urge to embrace and comfort her, but luckily her words buried that urge quickly.

"Even with an expert like me, you're too hopeless to begin with."

No out of the blue rejection? No 'Are you hitting on me? It's nice that you want to cheer me up, but you better learn how to do it properly first. I'm not that kind of girl that gives in so easily. You will have to wait for your next chance. I'm sorry.'?

Did I just reject myself? Ah, that's why she did it so often. It was pretty funny after all. A devilish smile appeared on my face. It must have looked amusing to Isshiki because she started to giggle. I didn't mind that at all and chimed in.

Actually Isshiki didn't need much help. After I told her what I remembered from last year, I barely needed to correct something. Most likely she just didn't want to do it alone.

Mainly I had to prevent her from getting too informal, but since it was part of her style I tried to find a compromise that would please the teacher while it remained natural to her personality. It was odd to see Isshiki accepting most of my suggestions obediently, only very few times she tried to argue. In the end she always gave in though. Perhaps it troubled her if she got too submissive.

I started to throw in a few things in that she could easily recognise and refuse, like my twisted views on youth or warnings that each step into the future would add more bitterness to life.

After the fifth of those I could hear the sound of her pen writing instead of the expected refusal. Startled by that I jumped out of my chair.

"What are you doing you idiot?! Now you'll have to write that page again before you can turn it in for approval!"

There was no way Hiratsuka-sensei wouldn't notice my participation if she read that. I doubt she would physically harm Isshiki, so I'll probably get twice the beating this time.

The student council president made a mean-spirited smile.

"So you are aware that you had been spouting nonsense."

She showed me that her last words were on a different paper which she sneaked in at some point.  
So she figured it out and made a fool of me, huh? That girl is way too dangerous.

"It's not nonsense, it's more like I remembered the pain a certain teacher programmed into the bodies of people who spread this kind of wisdom."

"Hiratsuka-sensei? I don't think she would do that, or any other teacher for that matter." She waved it off with her hands.

"So I'm the only one that gets that treatment? Mhh.." I accidentally mumbled that loud enough for Isshiki to hear. Her eyes widened in shock and she quickly tried to set the conversation back on track.

"Aaaaanyways, you're not that bad dealing with people... in your own ways. But please stop that. The speech is already hard enough to write without having to focus on your 'considerations'."

"Sorry." I truly was, but it didn't seem that Isshiki was really annoyed by it. Actually she now made her bright smile that could melt any man.

"Senpai is surrounded by so many weirdos..." I heard the student council's murmuring.

You have no right so say that. Smiling like that while you are working makes you definitely the weirdest of them all. Maybe. Hiratsuka-sensei really wasn't a normal teacher.

We were getting closer to the end when Isshiki started another casual conversation.

"Didn't Yui-senpai come to the club today?" She didn't look up and continued to focus on her writing.

"Yukinoshita said she got a cold, so she won't be coming this week."

The student council president interrupted the progress on the speech to stare at me in disbelief.

Wh-what now?

"Isn't Yui-senpai in your class? You should have noticed her absence or heard it from your homeroom teacher."

That's true, I should have heard it in the morning. Just what did I do again during homeroom?

I couldn't recall it at all.

"There are too many people in a classroom to check upon every single one of them.

Isshiki acted exhorting with her eyes narrowed, lips pressed and waving her frail finger sideways. She wasn't serious at all though.

Each of these actions were exaggerated, making it look extremely cute.

I wonder how she learned to be this sly.

"Yui-senpai would get worked up if she heard you saying that."

"If it's her she would get worked up even if I had noticed her absence."

"So true!"

Imagining Yuigahama's possible reactions in our mind we both startled to giggle again.

A few second of silence followed during which Isshiki fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

Are you looking for words? Don't worry such is life. The fun always ends at some point and for some it never starts. Before I could tell her any of this it seemed like she decided on what to do. The expression on your face reeks of danger, please stop that.

"Senpai, if I ever get sick... please... notice it... on your own."

She spoke in fragments with trembling lips and moist eyes while both hands grabbed her uniform at her bosom tightly.

...

I swear I was only stunned for half a second there before I could make a retort.

"Y-you're not even in my class. I have no chance to notice that in the beginning."

Apparently satisfied with my reaction she switched to a broad grin that screamed 'I got you good'.

"If you don't I order you to this room every afternoon till school closes, burying you under grunt work."

I finally found my composure again and replied with a wry smile.

"I don't think the student council president position comes with an authority like that."

Also stop saying such scary things with a face like that.  
Annoyed with my quick recovery from her attack she started to pout.

"Senpai, you'll never get popular with the girls if you keep being like that. Can't you just play along for once?"

Oh playing, that I can do as it is the opposite of work.  
I flashed my sparkling teeth and gave her a thumb up.

"Don't you worry, If you'll ever get sick I will refrain from coming to school and nurse you at home as long as it takes!"

"Eeek!" Isshiki backed of with her chair like half a metre and her eyes widened in shock.

Hey, that hurts, I totally looked cool right now.

"That's creepy, please don't do that ever again."

Oh crap. That was just a reflex upon the word play. It was not my fault that I only had Komachi to play with.  
Still it wasn't that bad right? I went into my sulking mode and watched how the president repositioned her chair in order to continue with the speech.

As soon as the pen began to move again she started to hum joyfully.

Isn't your mood a bit too good for being creeped out? And what the heck are you doing there?

"You know, the audience won't see those little hearts you're putting at the end of your sentences. Hiratsuka-sensei will be grossed out if she looks over it."

She replied without looking at me.

"It's fine, it's fine. These are for accentuation, sensei won't mind it."

Iroha Isshiki was a sly girl.

* * *

After Isshiki finished the speech we met Yukinoshita on the way out of the building. It was around the time club activity usually ended. I grabbed my bike before we said our goodbyes and everyone went their own way home.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay there. I greeted Komachi and asked what I had to buy for tonight's dinner. Our household was one of those that would get fresh ingredients like fish, fruits or vegetables daily. It had not been a big deal when my sister was in charge, as the supermarket was on her way home from school. I didn't even want to think about how much of my time will be wasted per month for just a handful of food.

I was in front of the entrance to the grocery store,

It wasn't as cold as yesterday, but still enough to make me enter quickly through the door.

After already two meetings with Miura here I couldn't rule out to encounter her a third time.

I was on my guard as started to pick up the needed grocery one by one.

It didn't take long to spot her. Not like it was hard. She was regarded to be the most beautiful girl at our school. Miss Totally would probably stand out everywhere.

Our eyes met, but thanks to the experience from last time our reactions didn't take as long this time. We immediately averted our faces and chose to ignore the other presence.

I stayed away from her and finished my hunt for food without any issue.

Today the supermarket was rather full as I had to line up for the register.

Suddenly I shuddered.

I felt a gaze piercing my back. It's unavoidable to be looked at when one lines up, but normally I wouldn't be that focused on.

I turned around to scare away the stalker with an annoyed expression of mine, just to be greeted by a pair of green eyes that I have come to known. I had barely been this close to Miura so my mind was kind of shocked. My face might had been too.

I remembered one of those rare moments where Miura was on the edge of my personal space.

The scary fight between her and Yukinoshita that nearly escalated thanks to that stupid rumor.

Now I felt even more uncomfortable.

She took the initiative since my mouth was open but no words were coming out.

"Ah." She gave me something that appeared to be a greeting, thus I responded on the same level.

"Hhm"

Not like I could have spoken a clear word after that surprise anyway.

The line moved forward and thus I turned back around to close the gap.

After twenty seconds of silence my back was being inquired.

"You're not up to something, are you?"

I turned around once more and tilted my head, puzzled by what she was referring to.

Did Miura think that she was the target of our club activity?

"No, just shopping." I somehow stringed enough words together to make sense.

The line moved forward again after I uttered those words and so I had to break the eye contact once more. It might not had been 'eye contact' by definition. Not that I didn't dare to look directly in her eyes at the moment. It was just that the candy section, which was in my line of sight when I looked over her shoulder, got suddenly super interesting.

Another silence lasting half a minute followed.

"I have never seen you here before yesterday."

That sounded scary. It carried an accusation with it.

Given the Service Club's record one couldn't really blame her. I somehow mustered one of those generic polite expressions before I faced her and explained to her.

"This duty was passed onto me recently to reduce the stress on my sister in regards to her entry into high school."

That felt like the longest sentence in my life.

"Ah."

I don't know if she remembered my sister. Last time they met was at New Year, but Miura had a bad mood because of Hayama's absence, so she pretty much ignored us.

Looks like she accepted my reason for my presence in this shop as there were no further questions. Not like she could have asked any since it was now my turn to pay for the goods.

What to do now though? Was the conversation over? Could I leave?

I could be digging my grave if l left without a word of parting. The same could be said about waiting for her to finish as well, if she finds it too obtrusive. While I was at a loss of what to do, Miura ended her purchase and looked surprised to find me still here.

Oh shoot. I failed by timeout? At least she didn't look angry so I might come out of here alive.

* * *

We exited the supermarket together. Now was the chance bid farewell and escape the situation. It made me uncomfortable because I couldn't classify our relationship and thus I didn't know how to behave. We weren't strangers to each other anymore. ] We weren't real acquaintances either, let alone friends.

Urgh, no time to think about that right now. I don't want to timeout again.

I searched my memory for a proper thing to say and decided to go with the most common I remembered.

"Goodbye."

"Mhhm goodbye." Miura gave me a slight nod and a reply of the same kind. My request to part has been accepted and I could let my feet carry me home.

It took me five seconds to realise that the sounds of the footsteps weren't trailing off into the distance as they should. It weren't mine obviously. I walked like a ninja in stealth mode all the time.

This made Miura's heels knocking on the ground earsplitting.

Or was that my anxious heart?

The unknown was twice as scary as something you had perceived. By that logic I should calm down if I took a glance.

I looked to the side to confirm her presence.

There was the same temporary confusion on her face that I had on mine. If I tried hard enough I probably could visually authenticate my expression within the reflection of her eyes.

I wonder if Yuigahama used Miura's eyes to check up on her own make-up.

Hand mirror Miura got over the confusion first and redirected her gaze to the path ahead.

Since Miura knows best I followed suit. [14]

Saying goodbye first without confirming her direction had been a mistake. The chance for her to head in the same direction was about 50% after all.

We stopped at a nearby traffic light and waited for it to grant us passage.

So she didn't turn left at this corner nor went straight on, but instead chose to cross the street. The chance for that to happen dropped to a third of the previous one. Not that I was too sure of that. It reminded me that I had not studied math yesterday like I wanted to.

This unprecedented situation made me really nervous. I tried not to show it but I couldn't stop myself from shifting my weight from one leg to the other several times. If I weren't so afraid of cars I would have gone ahead without waiting for permission from traffic light-sama. Getting hit by a car one time was more than enough. Would she try to go ahead if there weren't this many cars driving by?

I stole a short glance at Miura next to me without turning my head. Not a single sign of nervousness in her body language or expression. She truly mastered social interactions at this age. Or did she just not care that I was here? Either way I was impressed by how calm she was in this abnormal situation, or was it just one for me?

Influenced by the unaffected Miura I was able to calm down a bit.

We didn't talk while waiting. I wouldn't know what to talk about anyway, even if I had been the type to take the initiative. Miura appeared to be the type to like talking so it was a bit surprising that she remained silent. Or she really didn't care about my presence here.

After the traffic light successfully stopped the cars and we crossed the street unharmed, the next fifty-fifty chance appeared. Would she go back into the direction we came from after changing to this side of the street? She did not and I halved the probability of her still being by my side again. We took another turn at the next road and entered a residential area. The road didn't allow cars to pass through and was narrow enough for four people to walk next to each other.

I stopped calculating at this point.

The sounds of the cars faded more with each step we took. If I excluded the sound of Miura's heels it would have been total silence. At least I thought so at first. But between the tapping heels I could pick up a new faint sound. Maybe it had just started, I didn't know.

I looked for its origin and my gaze landed on Miura. She grinded her teeth with one corner of the mouth pulled up while the other dropped down. Something seems to tick her of. Me?

Is there really a reason to make such a displeased face?

I quickly averted my face to look for a way out of this situation which suddenly got very scary.

A four-way intersection was up ahead. Saved.

I kept my head straight while opting for the left road, positioning myself away from Miura. Thanks to her loud heels I could hear that she had set for the right path and basically mirrored my action.

I was already halfway into the left-leading road when a thought popped up in my mind.

This would be a detour right? I really had no desire to prolong my absence from home further than necessary. Thus like I walked along a semi-circle I returned to the path I came from. From the viewpoint of my original position I went for the road leading straight ahead this time.

Weirdly her footsteps got louder again. I looked for the cause.

It appears Miura had a similar train of thought as me. I fell into a shock.

I hadn't been this scared from her glare in a while. Her anger was completely obvious. Her hands formed fists and her body trembled from the overflowing emotions.

"Are you kidding me?!"

I knew this wasn't a question that required a direct answer, but my moth still moved like that of a fish, unable to find words.

I was frozen on the spot while I continued my training to breath like a fish for like half a minute.

Unable to even lift a single finger I felt very pathetic.

Seeing me not stopping my odd behaviour Miura must have calmed down and realised what kind of glare she send my way. She softened it.

Perhaps surprised by the effectiveness of her attack, she started to play with her ringlet.

I recognised this habit of her and it snapped me out of my shock. The pink nails tried to straighten the hair but it kept curling up again when she let go of it. So that's why she does it so often. It really had a calming effect, even on me.

After I behaved like I was a normal human again, Miura started to talk with a sharp voice.

"This wouldn't have happened if you..." She interrupted herself. For which reason I didn't know, but after she resumed her voice was way softer than before. It was the usual annoyed tone I knew from the classroom. The one she uses when she stated her discomfort with something.

"Being ignored, you know, like, I really can't stand it."

So Miura was bothered by the silence after all. There was always merry chatter around her so it must have been odd for her. I wasn't really ignoring you, this was just a loner being considerate you know?

I had these thoughts, but I only settled for an apology.

"Sorry."

But wasn't it kind of cruel to expect a loner leading a conversation? If anyone should have done so, it should have been you.

I took a step towards her as it seems our joint way would continue.

"Stop." My feet halted obediently. Weren't they supposed to only listen to me?

"You chose that way first, so go."

What a ridiculous demand. Didn't you chose a different path too? That commanding voice really annoyed the heck me out of me. I felt like my freedom was robbed from me.

I was so about to tell her off, that I didn't notice how my feet had turned me already around and walked away. Feet, are you listening to me? Hello?

Honestly I was glad to just have escaped capital punishment. The detour would only be five minutes anyway. Five minutes were a small price to pay for staying alive and having the chance to see Komachi again.

* * *

The rest of the evening was the same as always.

There was just one thing that wasn't normal. My sister informed me that the cooking lessons would start tomorrow.

I had been already in my bed when I thought back to the situation with Miura. What were the chances for that parting to happen the way it did? Too bad I stopped calculating midway, but even without a proper result I was sure that if I had played the lottery at that time, the jackpot would have been as good as mine.

My last gaze of the day rested on my cellphone. It didn't ring today either. With a good feeling I started to sleep.

* * *

I closed my diary. It was in my favourite colour with a few sparkling stickers plastered on it, guarded by a small lock to keep nosy people away. It appeared rather childish for a 17 year old high school girl, but I didn't mind it. I have been using it since the start of middle school. Of course it would have burst by now if it weren't for the possibility to remove and add pages freely. I transferred the old pages to diaries I bought at later points. I had tried to write in the newer ones directly, but it wasn't feeling the same as with my pink one. After all this time I just grew too attached to it. There were only very few things I couldn't share with it.

I don't mean stupid stuff like the situation with him today. It's not like my diary doesn't have stupid things in it, actually it was mostly filled with them. But this situation was like too weird. I rather not remember it at all. It was uncomfortable and ridiculous. I felt like someone was playing a prank on me and would jump out from behind a tree any second, revealing a hidden camera for some kind of TV show. I mean that gasping, how could anyone do something like that for real? Totally a moron...

I coughed to suppress a small upcoming giggle. Really, no way that is going to make it into my diary. I had my pride after all. It would have been a different story if it were someone else. Like Tobe perhaps, but even for him it was just too stupid. Hayato would never do something like that ever.

I let out a long sigh at the thought of him and played with my hair again. I wonder what I should do next. My finger went from fiddling with the curls back to the diary and traced the outline of a sticker. I shared everything regarding Hayato with my diary. Every moment I spend with him could be read up here. Except for one time and that was Hikio's fault.

* * *

[1] Namerou is a dish from Chiba consisting of horse mackerel, sardines, flying fish and Pacific Saury. Cut into small pieces and served with miso, ginger, leeks and green basil.

[2] Yuki-onna means snow woman and is a spirit/demon that usually traps people in the snow. There are variations though. Yukinoshita dressed up as one during the summer camp.

[3] Mahapadma is an ability to freeze time. Used by Esdeath from Akame ga Kill

[4] These are the words from Volume 10, at the scene where Yumiko asks the service club for help with the career plan. It was after Hachiman strongly offered his help to her.

[5] kotatsu is a heated table with a futon that covers the space between the table and the floor in order to keep the heat under the table.

[6] Hachiman boasted with this at Yui's birthday party on a drama CD

[7] Komachi came up with that description for herself during the Christmas gifting event side story.

[8] Komachi said so in Volume 10.5

[9] Hiratsuka seemingly convinced Hachiman in Volume 10 about giving up on his dream. He stopped mentioning it in the main series, only in Volume 10.5 he mentioned it again. So I'll go with nearly convinced in my story.

[10] It refers to Shinji Ikari's phone from Neon Genesis Evangelion

[11] The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi

[12] Happened in Volume 11

[13] 'Tobe was a good guy' is a catchphrase inside Hachiman's mind through the series. The denial that Tobe wasn't meant by Iroha happened in Volume 10, when she cheered for Hachiman using 'senpai'. Tobe thought he was meant.

[14] 'Mother knows best' is a song from the Disney movie Tangled. Hachiman refers to Miura's maternal traits he witnessed in the past.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Greetings again,**

 **It was just too early to let Hachiman think of their current status properly this time. I should get to this point in like 2 chapters. Please hold out till then and accept what you are seeing for the moment. You can expect the explanations to be in a similar form as this chapter's panda eyes-cute girl memory. Wording close to the source with either Hachiman's or my comments.**

 **Hachiman's mother had a short talking scene in the LN, that's why she has direct speech here but not the father. She only called him 'you' there.**

 **Two general notes. Beware that, like in the LN, Hachiman will say misleading things or contradict himself a few lines later. His real thoughts will sooner or later always surface though or at least be hinted at.  
Because of his personality he will behave totally different depending on the situation. For example, he was overwhelmed meeting Miura in an out of ordinary place. If it were the clubroom he would have been able to speak with her in a normal way. He has already done so in the LN.**

 **At everyone** Thank you for the numerous comments.

 **I'll address those with questions or issues. I'll offer PM talks if a proper answer would get to big for this section.**

 **RalphZiggy** The vibes I got from the LN was that Hachiman realised it a while ago, but could not accept it due to his personality. But ultimately it is left ambiguous as you said and thus I can go freely with my feelings choosing which of the states is true.

 **Thatslifebro** The length of chapters will vary greatly. They'll be as long as I need to convey a certain progress of the story. Luckily this is not a magazine with limited space.

 **Fanfic Critic** Other than labeling the ship beforehand, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do for you. Hopefully you'll find some entertainment in the interactions with other characters, if you decide to continue reading.

 **yo** Oregairu has a harem setting, so yes you'll find such elements for nearly everyone. However there are big differences in how Hachiman treats each of them. You can find something unique in his behaviour for every person. You can send me a PM if you want to discuss it.

 **8person** I guess it won't get much better than this, but I'll try. Maybe it'll get 'right' enough for you with this chapter or any of the following ones.

 **Guest** The LN clearly states otherwise. Don't worry, I'll include that material to illustrate it during the next chapters.

 **If there is something you want to ask about just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 3 again.  
**


	3. Can this even be called normalcy?

Tuesday was the epitome of normalcy. The only notable thing about it was its sibling Thursday. These two days didn't mark anything. Neither the start, middle nor end of the working week, and of course they had nothing to do with the precious weekend either.

They were just gears that kept the system going.

So to say they were the corporate slaves of the week.

The word 'change' was unknown to them and that was the only thing I liked about them.

I woke up like always.

I was greeted by the same face in the mirror of the bathroom like always.

I had my Komachi-made breakfast like always.

I arrived at the school with my bike like on any other day when it didn't rain.

No incidents, no surprises and most importantly no contact with people that weren't my sister.

My peace of mind lasted till moments before I entered the classroom.

Miura's words of how she didn't want to be ignored flashed up in my thoughts.

I subdued the rising tension quickly. Of course that excluded the classroom. I would look like a total idiot to greet the most beautiful girl of the school as the nobody I was. Wasn't she mad at me anyway? Come to think of it I never greeted Yuigahama or Totsuka either. For a moment I even wondered whether I even participated in the rise, bow and sit procedure to greet the teacher.

I erased my presence and entered the classroom. Without further ado I went to my chair and pretended to sleep. Infiltration successful, no one noticed me. I was probably the only one in class to put effort into this kind of thing. Not to say I was the only loner. There was still Kawasaki as well, but unlike me she just didn't care if she was noticed. All she had to do was to surround herself with a scary 'don't talk to me' aura to avoid people interacting with her.  
I thought a bit about which skill was superior, her aura or my stealth mode, but since I had no information about her upkeep costs I came to no result.

It was time to start my usual observation of the class. Even without Yuigahama, Miura's group was the loudest. Did my clubmate impact the volume of the group at all?

I was still on my guard concerning Miura, so I only used the corner of my eyes to watch her.  
Like a floodlight of a prison tower Miura let her gaze wander across the class. The gaze didn't slow down nor sped up as it passed me.  
I took it as indication that I was dead to her.

* * *

The club was surprisingly enjoyable in stark contrast to yesterday.

Yukinoshita's urge to speak about the talk with her mother had calmed down compared with 24 hours ago. After the red tea had been prepared, we stuck to our books while keeping glances to a minimum. I could truly relax in this atmosphere.

Thus when she refilled my Pan-san cup for the third time I decided to tease her a bit.

"You should have settled on becoming a maid."

The image of her wearing the maid outfit surfaced. It strangely fitted her.

All I got in return was an icy look.

"I believe I told you to stop exposing your fetishes."

"What nonsense are you talking about? I don't have a fetish." I responded with confidence. I didn't even have a type.

"Oh my apologies." Damn, she had put on her mocking smile. Although it was a little softer than from the beginning of my time with the club.  
It looked kind of cute. "I forgot you were so desperate that you would accept anyone willing to be near you."

I'll take that back. It was the smile of a devil, not the least bit cute.

"That's not true at all, I actually have quite the strict criteria for women."

I could definitely see surprise in Yukinoshita's expression, before she averted her face.

"Not that it matters, but what could those be?" Her voice wasn't as firm as before and combined with the way the setting sun painted her skin red, she gave off the impression of girl who had just asked for the contact details of her crush.

"Of course the most important criterion would be the level of income. She'll need to be able to care for me."

The following silence didn't last long as it was disturbed by Yukinoshita's mumbling while she strongly massaged her temple.

"After all the time you have spent here, you still uphold that delusion of yours?"

"It certainly has been some time." I totally ignored the second half.

A question came to my mind. One that I had asked twice already, each time with a negative result. Just as I was about to ask her again, I could see her face changing.  
She probably remembered the same question and prepared to give a quick response.

'It's out of question for me to be friends with you.' That was her answer back then.  
It was only now I started to understand the meaning.

"Looks like you still have some way to go to fulfill Hiratsuka-sensei's request."

In the end I didn't ask a third time. That smile of hers showed me that it was the right decision.

"Indeed."

* * *

After I had pedaled home to get today's shopping order from Komachi, I found myself in front of the supermarket again. Miura was shopping here again at the same time. That came a bit as a surprise. I always thought she would be one of the 'go whenever' type.

Why was it that whenever I met her outside of school I found myself in a difficult situation?  
If my earlier deduction from the classroom was correct, I shouldn't get in her way. But what if I was mistaken? Wouldn't her words of how she hated to be ignored take priority in that case?

Miura must have felt my gaze when I pondered about what to do, because she turned around to face me. Did I stare that strongly at her?

She crossed her arms and started to tap with her foot. Apparently she waited for me to come over. Well that made my decision much easier. Although that left me wondering whether I even had a choice at all and why was I the one who had to walk in the first place?

"Sup."

Since I was occupied with those other thoughts, I had put no attention to my greeting and just went with one of my usual ones.

However that was a mistake. Miura narrowed her eyes and her glare intensified.

"Good afternoon."

I quickly corrected myself but her expression didn't change.

She couldn't expect me to use 'Yahallo', ccould she? Like hell I'm ever going to use that abomination of a greeting. Wasn't she suffering enough from it with all those people using it nonstop around her?

Her gaze softened as she sighed.

"Just say hello next time."

She turned around to pick up a Kinkan. [1]

So she was at the fruit section again huh? It was probably one of the methods to stay as beautiful as she was. I quickly confirmed the success of her methods by comparing her legs with a nearby orange. Such a smooth skin, if she wouldn't constantly scream out her presence with her various auras she could be mistaken for a doll. But there was never such a moment. She was never on standby, constantly switching between scary, annoyed and bored. Rarely one got to see one of her other auras. That of a caring mother or a truly cute girl.

Maybe that was the reason why boys ran away from Yui whenever she mentioned Miura's name.  
Not that most of the girls weren't scared of her either.  
Or was it because of her lack of manners? I still haven't received any kind of greeting, have I?

Even Yukinoshita stuck to manners while lecturing me about them.

I picked up the few things from the fruit section that Komachi wanted and quietly excused myself to fetch the rest on my shopping list. After I had found the last item, I looked for Miura to say my goodbye and be on my way.

Guess I wasn't supposed to be this lucky as she looked to be done as well. Like yesterday I waited for her to pay again and we exited the grocery store together.

Of course I didn't repeat the mistake of the too early goodbye, but there wasn't really anything else to say either. I wasn't the type to naturally start or lead a conversation to begin with, but like Haruno once pointed out, I would still always answer when spoken to.

Would the Queen grant me such an opportunity though?

Inside the classroom there were three persons who she would talk to without restraints.  
They were Hayama, Ebina and Yuigahama. Oh, and one with a so-so status. That was the result of Tobe's struggle to talk with her despite being scared in an attempt to get closer to Ebina. Every other underling had to do the first step and mostly got told off with nothing more than an intimidating 'Ha?'.

Apparently I belonged in the last category too as she continued to stay silent.

The displeased vibes on her side grew noticeably stronger the longer I remained quiet.  
On a second thought, I could start a talk if I had to, like for club requests or when my life was in danger. Did that last thing ever happened? It felt like it happened this very moment.

"Is Yuigahama feeling better?"

Out of the three topics, which I believed could please Miura, I picked the safest one. The second topic would have been Hayama. At best this one was a minefield. Sooner or later I would have stepped on one and then triggered Miura's wrath. I guess it would have been sooner than later since I had nothing good to say about him in the first place.

The third topic was pink. I liked pink, she liked pink, a perfect topic. There was just one flaw with it. I would die immediately when I mentioned her panties.  
Picking Yuigahama as topic shouldn't have any backlash, or so I thought.

Miura made an obvious, disgruntled face and stared holes in my head.

"Shouldn't you know her condition if you're going out with her?"

Wait, alarm! I remember this trick question.

"I'm not checking on her daily." The club requests robbed me of too many weekends and free afternoons already. Give me a break for not visiting her. That would have been extremely embarrassing as well.

"... I knew it." After a short flash of surprise on her face I heard Miura mumble something, but I couldn't understand it clearly.

"Say, when did you two start to date?" The voice asking that question was rather timid, but it still managed to carry some annoyance.

"N-no, we never dated!" I blurted this out as rash as I could. Did I fail the question again?

"Is that true?" She looked at me with earnest eyes that could see through all lies.

"Of course not!" I was confident that it was no lie. The thing with the fireworks was just a shopping tour for Komachi after all. She did call me out to a date on Valentine's day, but since she brought Yukinoshita along, that didn't count.

"Don't say misleading things then. I thought for a moment that she would have kept it a secret from me." Miura looked relieved and even a small smile appeared on her face.  
That was the first one I saw during our coincidental meetings at the supermarket.  
The smile had the magical power to make me feel at ease when being alone with her.

"Don't worry, whenever I went for a romantic relationship it was publicly announced to everyone."

The sentence started full energy out of concern for her, I understood that friends were very important to Miura, but towards the end my voice was completely lifeless as I recalled the memories.

"There was this friend of a friend..."

I automatically began to tell her the story as it passed my inner eyes.

"Mhh? You already said it was about you." Miura cut in mercilessly. Don't you see I need this illusion to get through the story without crying?

"This middle school friend of mine had a cute girl he liked. She was in the wind instrument club. On the birthday of this music-loving girl he had mustered all his courage and gave her present. It was a self-compiled CD of anime songs."

"Anime songs? Are you serious? No wonder you got dumped." Madame Butterfly shot another ace into my tale to disrupt me.

"Hey, I spent all night to carefully select the songs. They were neither too otaku-ish and I mixed in popular love songs from that time. Also I never said I got dumped, did I?" I tried to defend myself desperately. It was an innocent, thought through attempt. I did nothing creepy.

"Ah, you just said it was you again." I couldn't remember Yukinoshita and Yuigahama disrupting me this often.

"Aaanyways, the CD got accepted and he almost cried with joy."

"Oh, so you didn't get dumped after all?" Was that 'oh' really necessary? Classmate, what do you take me fooooor? I tried my best to ignore her inquiring look.

"So on the next day..."

"Aah, there was more to it"

Why won't you let me through this as quickly as possible? Tears started to form in the corners of my eyes.

"...during the lunch break, there came this through the PA System, 'Aaaaand the next song was requested by Class 2C's Otagaya Hachiman-kun (snicker), a love song (snicker) for Yamashita-san!'" [2]  
No matter how often I talked about it, the tears were still flowing down. Whoever said that talking cures every psychological trauma was a big liar.

"Haa?! What a wicked girl. How could you fall for her?" Miura send me an accusing gaze with one eyebrow raised.

I got it at this moment. Miura might disrupt a lot, but she was a very passionate listener.

We arrived at yesterday's intersection.

Time to part I guess, a loner was very considerate after all.

"Goodbye." I used the same formality and went for the detour again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

That voice stopped me in my tracks and I turned around.

"Didn't you.. yesterday..?" Speak fluently, would you? But I couldn't. I was honestly caught by surprise. I didn't expect anything other than a 'goodbye' from her.

"Yesterday was yesterday. You originally wanted to go this way right?" That clear voice did not only cut off all my thoughts, but also the connection to my language centres.

I could only nod.

"Then come." She went ahead. Luckily I had mastered the quickstep and could get by her side quickly without having to run up to her.

The conversation was over though, how should I continue?

"About Yui. You should give her a call."

Was that an option? I thought sick visits should be done in person.

"I might."

I got a frown as reply.

"I mean, I will"

Miura softened her gaze. Jeez, she was good at dealing with people on yet another level from Yuigahama and Isshiki.

"Good, but don't forget it."

That's easy for you to say, but I was currently in a cold war with my cellphone.  
Not only that wouldn't that be too meddlesome?

"Do you really think it would be fine for me to call her?" I decided to ask her directly with my concern.

"Wouldn't that be natural? You're clubmates after all."

Her logic wasn't that convincing. How much club experience did Miura have? I was pretty sure it was none.

"You spend so much time together, it will be okay."

Looks like she noticed the questioning look of mine and reinforced her reply.

"All right. I'll try." I gave her a nod to underline my resolve.

Miura stopped.

"Then goodbye."

She didn't seem angry, but for whatever reason she decided for us to part here.

Wasn't that kind of unfair, that a woman could decide that on her own, while I went through all the psychological pain yesterday? Or was it just because she was the woman she was, to be able to do it? I was fine with it though, so I didn't question her action vocally.

"Goodbye."

I went home without looking back.

* * *

At home I had to participate in 'Komachi's home cooking lesson deluxe'. I didn't know where she picked up deluxe, but at least she was in high spirits.

"All right, Onii-chan. During all these years you must have learned something from watching me cooking. So what did you learn?"

My sister was hyped, her sparkling eyes were putting so much pressure on me.

I was fully prepared though.

"Dear sister, sit back and watch the fruits of all I have learned over the years from engraving you into my brain!"

Full of confidence I started to walk and picked up the apron.

To Komachi's surprise I didn't remain inside kitchen though.

"What are you doing?"

My sister's puzzlement was understandable as I was heading for my room, but I only gave a vague answer.

"Just you wait."

A few moments later I came my room with the apron on.  
It did have an effect on Komachi, she was dumbfounded with her mouth wide open. Her cheeks started to blush furiously and her index finger never stopped pointing at me. It looked like she tried to say something but no words came out.  
Komachi was speechless, even I didn't expect that my action would cause such an impact on her.

"Could you please say something? I start to feel like a rare animal in a zoo if you keep pointing at me."

"O..o..o..." I guess she wanted to say onii-chan, but was unable to do so. Thus she aborted that attempt and started a new sentence.

"WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!"

That scream echoed through the house. If father had been here, I would have been killed on the spot. Maybe the same applied to my mother. Fortunately both were still at work.

"Huh, I'm clearly wearing an apron."

"But underneath..." As if she had put all energy into the previous loud scream, her voice was now nothing more than a whisper.

"Underneath is a sleeveless shirt and shorts. That's your ultimate wardrobe for cooking."

Of course I knew that it seemed like a naked apron from the front. I always had a hard time enduring that view when Komachi wore it after all.

My sister lost all her energy at my words. Her shoulders and head dropped significantly and she slowly made her way to her own room. When she passed me, she muttered something barely audible.

"Today's lesson is over."

Looks like I didn't need further education. It was all about the getup and that I had mastered already simply through watching my sister.

Wasn't that praiseworthy? So why was there no praise?  
Please stop dragging your feet at least. I'm getting depressed at that sight.

Infected by Komachi's lifeless state I couldn't do anything for the rest of the evening.

My cellphone didn't do anything as well. I neither got a call nor did I contact Yuigahama.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I felt delighted when I wrote the last sentence in my diary today. Next to Hayato the second main topic was Yui. Yui didn't seem to have hidden something from me after all. Over the last months I had asked her a couple of times if she was in a relationship, but she had always denied. Today I was able to confirm her honesty by asking the prime suspect. Of course that doesn't rule out whether she had interest in him or not.

I skimmed through the diary and finally found the part I wanted to read once more. The confirmation with my diary wasn't actually needed as I remembered it clearly. It was the moment when Yui accidentally said that there was someone she was interested in.

After that I tried to make her reveal more, but she had blocked every attempt of mine.

Judging from the circumstances it wasn't one of the three boys who accompanied us regularly. I was kind of sure it wasn't Hayato either. She didn't behave like the other girls who wanted to get close to him. Whenever it came to him I couldn't shake off an uncertainty though.

He means everything to me after all.

Even though Yui didn't seem to be the kind of girl who would steal someone from her closest friend, my heart had always wavered at that thought. There weren't many people who could resist Hayato's charm, especially not over such a long time. He is the perfect boy.

I hoped Yui really was the kind of girl I judged her to be and not the best actress in the world.

That only left Hikio to be the last possibility. Of course a lot of other boys talked with Yui, but there was nobody who spent an unusual amount of time with her. It was unlikely that she met someone in private either. We spent a lot of our time together after all, and sometimes her club took away all of the remaining time.

So Hikio, who was in the same club, was the most likely person to be that she had meant. I found the thought weird at first...

I better stop thinking about it. I didn't want to ruin my good mood recalling everything considering him.  
The only important thing was that she didn't keep such a big thing, like a relationship, hidden from me.

That made me truly glad.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Wednesday was a bad day. By default it wasn't a good one since it was a working day, but there were other aspects that made it bad. Being the day in the middle of a week, it reminded one that the weekend was still far away. Also if bad things happened on Monday, people would joke about you excessively till Tuesday, before they started to get bored of it on Friday and forget everything over the weekend. If the same thing happened on Wednesday though, the aftermath lasted fully till Friday. The gossiping people wouldn't experience the boredom over the weekend, as the target of their badmouthing wasn't present. Thus they get back into it on Monday with renewed enthusiasm. Of course this didn't apply to the big things, those still lasted 75 days.[3]

So yes, Wednesday was a bad day, even more so if one was late for school.  
Just like me currently.

I stood in front of Hiratsuka-sensei, the class in tumult. Not because I was late, Homeroom just ended and everyone was busy doing their usual things. I doubted anyone had noticed my arrival, or even my absence during homeroom.

Hiratsuka-sensei had a stern look on her face and her arms were crossed.

"What's your reason for being late this time?"

Since no one was paying attention to me, besides a certain single teacher, I didn't care how dumb my excuse sounded.

"Instincts and desires."

Apparently that wasn't enough of an explanation as my teacher raised an eyebrow and wanted me to continue.

"Go on."

"You know, that we make our human bodies move subconsciously to avoid dangerous situations, right? These instincts protect the body from harm. Not just physically, but there is also mental protection. Against better knowledge people tend to hide or twist the truth if they feel that being honest would only bring forth misfortune. Clearly that wide area of coverage shows how important and strong these instincts are for our survival.  
I tried my best to fight these instincts in order to come to school, but it took me quite some time to make my resisting legs move forward to school. Unfortunately that made me miss your lesson."

Surprisingly I wasn't interrupted during that sorry attempt of an excuse I made up on the spot.

She probably got some form of entertainment out of it, at least her eyes contained a lively spark. Perhaps that was just her demonic pleasure in anticipation of the punishment she would give me.

"What about the desire part?"

Despite being set on penalising me, she wanted to listen to me till the end.

I was so desperately crafting my excuse that I forget that part.

"Similar to instincts there is also the powerful force of desires. Did you know that in some countries prisoners won't receive additional punishment for escaping? In Germany or Austria it is justified with the basic desire to be free. My desire to be free from my harsh school life and my instincts to keep me safe from further harm in this public facility joined forces which was too powerful to overcome. As you see sensei, any form of punishment wouldn't be fair."[4]

That was most likely the longest excuse for oversleeping I ever gave to her.

Even Hiratsuka-sensei was taken aback by it.

"How come a normal high school student knows such things?" Sensei did you just looked down on all the other students here? Luckily no on listened to our conversation.

I would have felt bad if my improvised excuse lead to damage her reputation with the students.

"But you forgot one thing Hikigaya." What was only in her eyes before, now spread over her whole face.

"What could that be?" Ironically my instincts kicked in and made me slowly retreat backwards.

"We're in Japan, we only have our own laws to uphold."

My vision got blurry and my legs turned weak. It had been a while since the last time Hiratsuka-sensei physically punished me inside the classroom.  
I could avoid falling over by kneeling down on one leg.

Holding back was an unknown term to my teacher. Out of curiosity, I didn't break eye contact with Hiratsuka-sensei. Like I expected, not the slightest hint of guilt or mercy in her glance.

"As punishment.." Wasn't I punished already? Just like two seconds ago, too. I worry about the state of your memory, sensei.

".. and to fix your lack of knowledge on the Japanese jail system, you'll write me an essay about the different types of escapes and their respective penalties."

"Yes, Hiratsuka-sensei."

I stood up again and saw her leaving the classroom.

My classmates volume didn't change at any moment during our conversation. Again I was glad that no one cared to notice us.

* * *

The club didn't receive any requests today either and even Isshiki was still too busy with the student council to drop by clubroom.

The good atmosphere with Yukinoshita from yesterday continued and I could write my essay without being disturbed. When the time of the club activity reached its end, I left the clubroom to hand over the essay to Hiratuska-sensei. She didn't have time to check it immediately but there shouldn't be any issue with it.

At home I asked my sister for today's needs regarding dinner before I made my way to the supermarket.

The first thing I did inside was to look for Miura. Since I knew how she wanted to be greeted and I would be able to go shopping by myself afterwards, I didn't feel the same tension as on the previous days. That didn't mean I was completely relaxed, it just didn't paralyze me anymore. One could say I got used to it, a bit at least.

I found her holding a single strawberry and examining it carefully, so I walked up to her.

"Hello."

"Wooaahh!" Miura's whole body cringed, visibly startled by the sudden voice. Oh crap! I forgot that I walked like always, without a sound. She turned around to give me the scariest look I had ever seen.  
Her exclamation put us in the centre of attention of half the supermarket. Luckily none of the staff had heard it. Not only because they would jump to wrong conclusion due to my eyes, like I would be molesting such a beautiful girl, but also because my action produced irreparable damage.

Strawberry-chan died, squashed by Miuras fingers.

"You!" If her frown had not been that frightening, I would have found the juice running from her fingers down to her wrist kind of sexy.

I quickly pulled out my handkerchief and offered it Miura.

"I'm sorry."

Of course she was still angry, but she accepted it silently and cleaned herself.

Since the situation didn't escalate any further, the bystanders lost their interest in watching us.

When she wiped of the last bits of the strawberry, Miura returned the handkerchief.

"Why can't you just greet me like a normal person for once?"

It was more like a murmur to herself rather than a question to me, but I replied regardless.

"Well, there aren't many people who would want me to greet them. Of those who do, they tend to greet me first."

Miura let out a brief sigh before she asked me another question.

"Did you see it?" I might have imagined it but I could swear that her eyes moved away from me for a split second, but they quickly returned staring at me, more intensively than before. Not out of anger, it was more like she didn't want to miss any hint in my face that would reveal a lie of my next words. Of course I had seen the strawberry, my handkerchief had undeniable evidence on it. Since it was impossible to deny that fact, I had no choice but to feign ignorance.

"All I saw was that you checked the quality of the strawberries." To underline my sentence I sent her a questioning gaze.

"Huh?" Her green eyes were full of confusion, so to keep her from asking any further I added a reason to leave.

"Excuse me, I'll go get the things I was asked to buy."

She nodded silently at me and I walked away.

I wasn't the type to trample on a maidens heart after all.

Like the days before I waited for Miura to finish her shopping and we exited the grocery store together.

She didn't bring up the earlier incident again, for that I was glad.

"Did you call Yui?"

I would have been gladder if she had not brought up that as well.

My gaze was fixed at some point ahead in the distance, so didn't have to see her inquiring expression when I replied.

"I didn't have the energy to do so."

My head turned gradually hotter, only partly because I felt uncomfortable of not having done it. The other reason was that I felt Miura burning holes into my head with some kind of laser eyes.

I stuck with watching that spot in the distance. Since I showed no reaction to her glare she decided to use her voice.

"Why?"

I couldn't pretend not to her it, could I? I thought about putting in my earphones, but I guess it was too late for that.

"I had a cooking lesson from my sister which robbed me of all vigour."

I gave an answer that wasn't false and it would have been enough for Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, but Miura kept on asking. I had abandoned the spot too early!

"Ah, cooking is, like, not that easy." She probably thought back to the Valentine baking event.

"What did you cook?"

"Nothing." My reply seemed to have surprised her as she tilted her head in puzzlement.

I couldn't remember many situations where Miura had done that. As it was such a rare sight I decided to engrave it into my brain.

"My sister canceled the lesson early because she suddenly felt very down and it kind of jumped over to me."

Apparently she could accept my explanation as she nodded in agreement.

"Did something happen to her?"

She had the curiosity of a cat. It was only a matter of time before Yukinoshita would be all over her. I wondered for a moment whether Yukinoshita came to like me more because I had the tongue of a cat.

"She saw me in an apron and lost all energy for the rest of the day."

Miura tilted her head even further. I totally didn't say confusing stuff on purpose just to see that reaction again.

"Well, I wore the same things she usually wears under the apron, like a sleeveless shirt or shorts, thus it looked like a naked apron from the front. It kind of freaked her out."

"Of course she would, you have been staring at her with indecent thoughts for who knows how long!" I could read from her eyes that she labeled me as a pervert.

"I did no such thing. After all, I was the one who told her to put on pants, when she walked around the living room wearing my shirt as nightie, flashing her bra and panties on every movement."

Damn, I might have said a bit too much. Miura's eyes turned lifeless, pretty much like how Komachi had been yesterday.

"Ugh, just how close are you two with each other?"

"We're pretty close. Since I never had friends, she was like the only person willing to talk to me." I didn't know whether my parents talked to me because they wanted to or had to. Her question came at a good time to change the direction of the conversation. Before I went further though, I gave her a short break as she seemed to be lost in thoughts. I wondered if she tried to imagine how it was to have no friends. Could she even do it? She looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.

"She even respects the advantages of a loner's life, but is also good at dealing with people. We barely fight with each other and she is concerned about my wellbeing. Komachi is a world class sister." I started to get carried away with my praises for my sister. There were no Hachiman points to gather right now. I had to get back to earth.

"But she is also kind of an idiot, that's why she had to try so hard to get into Sobu High."

Miura still seemed to be dazed, unlike before she had not interrupted me.

"Ah." When she broke out of her state that was the only reply I got. Miura had nothing to say, but at least that response signaled that she had listened to me.

When we were close to arrive at yesterday's parting spot Miura started to talk again.

"Remember to call Yui."

So she had not forgotten the start of our talk at all.

"I will." Today I refrained from giving a vague response first.

As expected she stopped at the same spot again.

"Goodbye."

"Yes, goodbye."

I replied and went ahead. There was an urge to look back and see what she would be doing there, but I could suppress it. When I thought about it, I didn't get a greeting this day again.

* * *

After I had arrived at home it happened. My phone was receiving a call.

Komachi, who was getting ready for the cooking lesson, glanced at the phone in disbelief.

That was the call I feared the past few days, thus I was a bit hesitant to answer it, but still I did it. Not picking up would trigger something very bad after all.

"Let's meet at the same café as last time near the Chiba Station."

There was no time stated nor room for my reply. Looks like I was expected to go there immediately.

"Who was it?" Komachi asked me.

"I'm sorry, I need to skip today's lesson. Yukinoshita's sister called to meet me."

My sister threw another question at me.

"Haruno-san? Does it have to do with Yukino-san's request?"

"She didn't say anything but where to meet. However it probably does."

I didn't know the extent of their acquaintanceship, but she let me go without inquiring me further. Perhaps she just did it out of concern for Yukinoshita.

* * *

Despite being the one to call me, Haruno did let me wait at the café. She somehow knew where I lived, so if she had wanted to arrive at the same time, she would have.

I anticipated that and didn't forget to bring a book along with me.

After 20 minutes had passed a hand of a woman pushed down my book.

Just as I got to a good part.

"Have you been waiting long for me Hikigaya-kun?" She seated herself opposite of me and her eyes clearly told me that she wasn't interested in my answer at all.

"Of course, I had been waiting for days after all." That was the truth. Maybe Haruno didn't expect that answer or it was part of her acting, but her eyelids closed two times.

"If you missed me that much, why didn't you gave me another call?" Haruno rested her head on her hand and scrutinised me for my reason to have said that.

"Since it was unavoidable, I wanted to get over with it as quick as possible." The uncertainty of when disaster would strike, I couldn't endure it.

"How can you say such a thing to a beautiful onee-san like me? Don't you care about my feelings?" Haruno puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms in a way that would squeeze her breasts. She didn't look hurt in the slightest. That sight was too much for me so had to avert my face with hot cheeks.

Seemingly happy with my reaction she continued with the talk.

"I was surprised that you kept your promise without resistance."

I wonder if you can call that actually a promise. When I wanted her to come to the park last Saturday, she refused to do so until I had agreed to meet with her afterwards.

Wouldn't the whole Yukinoshita family benefit from that action? Why did I have to pay such a big price for it.

"I would have just felt bad to make others go through the same experiences as I did." Since I didn't want to break promises, I rarely made them in the first place.

It didn't have anything to do with wanting to see a beautiful woman nor with my desire to hear the results of my actions concerning Yukinoshita.

"Did Yukino talk with you about Saturday yet?" She got serious at that moment. Her eyes didn't change the slightest but her voice had lost all sweetness. It was an important topic after all.

I shook my head.

"No. She wants to wait till Yuigahama recovers from her cold."

"Oh, Gahama-chan is sick?" I even used her correct name just seconds ago, Haruno didn't care the slightest bit about her. Getting worked up about it wouldn't have amounted to anything, so I let it slid.

"Why did you decide to call me today?"

"I wanted to thank you." Haruno touched the backs of my hands and the book I still had in my grasp till then, fell down the last few centimetres onto the table.

I wasn't that surprised of her touch, she had no sense for personal space after all. The look on her face and the warmth in her voice stunned me however. If I had to guess that might have been her expression when she was honest.

Since I wasn't able to ask what she meant with it, she started to explain on her own.

"Mother seems to be okay with it for the moment and I still can live together with Yukino-chan. That is because of you."

My hands still hovered over the table with Haruno's hands on their backs, my face probably had the colour of the setting sun, bathing in its light, hiding my embarrassment.

It was actually dark outside, I guess the sun was only a friend to females.

"I-I didn't do anything."

Praise was something I still couldn't deal with properly.

"You did enough. Anything further isn't required."

Hiratsuka-sensei's word came back to me, 'it probably doesn't have to be you.'. Yukinoshita's mother probably thought along the line whether a person was still useful or not. I wondered if my role for Yukinoshita had already ended.

"Are these your words?"

"No, but I do think that you gave Yukino-chan a reason to go further on her own, even if you were not there anymore."

The atmosphere got a bit heavy, I felt a bit depressed even.

Suddenly Haruno's smile changed into something impishly. Before I could react, her fingers had clasped my hands wholly, which hadn't moved at all during this time.

"Since Yukino-chan is fine now, why don't you aim for the big sister?"

I tried to retrace my hands but to no avail. Haruno was stronger than I expected.

"I didn't aim for anyone in the first place."

Haruno stood up and relocated herself next to me, without letting go of my hands during the process.

"I heard that you accepted the possibility of a relationship though." Now even her eyes didn't let me go.

"You must have heard that wrong." I moved my body away from her.

"I doubt that, I heard it clearly when Yukino-chan was on the phone with Gahama-chan."

She not only closed the gap again, it was even shorter than before. Her perfume smelled really good.

"Didn't your mother teach you that eavesdropping is bad?"

I moved away again. How long would she keep this up?

"Silly you, it was my mother who send me for that purpose to Yukino-chan."

With a playful look she came closer again, her knee touched my leg already,

I tried once more to free my hands but her grip was as strong as before.

"What a meddlesome family."

Originally I tried to move even further away, but after I completed half of my motion I was stopped by the wall.

"Isn't that a sign that we care for each other?" Seeing me trapped in the corner, she moved all the way to me. There was no gap anymore. She moved her mouth so close to my ear that I could feel her breath. That wasn't the only thing I felt. Since she leaned over that much, her breasts pressed against my arm. I was about to faint. Seriously that was too much for me. At least she released one of my hands, but only to deliver me the final blow.

Her free hand slowly traveled along my chest.

"You like it if you are taken care of, don't you?"

Haruno's whisper echoed through my head.

My head started to spin, my heart in tumult and the emotions inside me broke free.

I thought that I would fall for Haruno any moment as one of these emotions overshadowed everything else. I couldn't quite understand it yet, but my body started to shiver from this emotion and my eyes were wide open.

Any other girl might had mistaken that reaction for something else, but fortunately it was Haruno who was with me.

"What's wrong?" Her eyes seemed to be honestly worried as she backed off me.

I couldn't answer immediately, although it didn't take too long either.

After I thought a little the answer was clear, but I was confused by it. The dominant emotion I felt was well-known to me. It wasn't something I should feel right now though.

"Fear." When I spoke this word Haruno started to pout.

I knew her well enough to see that she was just acting, but she also tried to bury an other, smaller feeling with that act. Perhaps she was hurt a little? It was a mean thing to say after all.

"You fear me? I'm way to beautiful to be..."

Haruno's sulking charade stopped midway, instead she kept looking at me with earnest interest. I had no time to pay her more attention though.

Something with my feelings was wrong.

When that happened, I did what Hiratsuka-sensei taught me to do.

I thought everything through. One by one. I don't know how long it took, but I finally reached an answer.

My gaze shifted to Haruno, who waited patiently for me to get to a conclusion. She didn't seem to be bored of waiting. On the contrary, I never had seen her this excited.

"No." I shook my head at her. "It is not you that scared me. Actually I'm used enough to you to have fun when I talk with you. What I fear is something you possess and I lack."

I wasn't bothered by her cold smile and narrowed eyes as I was used to that as well. She was always like this when she tried to look inside me.

"And what would that be?"

Without further ado I gave her my answer.

"Experience."

Just like during the time of the planning committee for the Cultural Festival I made her laugh again. The people around us started to look at the reason of the commotion and therefore could hear Haruno's words.

"Hahaha! What an Idiot!"

There was no malice or in those words so I wasn't bothered by them. What troubled me was the attention by all these strangers hearing that. My cheeks blushed slightly.

After she had recovered her composure, Haruno ordered coffee for the two of us.

Looks like she was eager to continue this.

"How do you intent to close the gap of experience? You know I could teach you a few things..."

Haruno was acting seductive again, but I knew that this time it was just that. Acting.

"Wouldn't it just put me in the same situation again? As long as I am this inexperienced I can't consider a relationship with someone of your calibre."

I was surprised at myself how I could stay so calm with such a topic.

"Why not me, what is it exactly what you fear?" She probably knew already but still wanted me to say it.

"I fear that..." I took a deep breath "...because we're not even, you'll grow tired of me and toss me away once you get bored. Or worse, I'll become another dog of yours."

"Just who could you be referring too?" Haruno's giggle gave away that we thought of the same person, so there was no need to play along with her.

"Who knows?" I shrugged my shoulders and waited for her next question.

"So if you don't want an advanced teacher, all there is left would be innocent girls. Can you be this unfair?"

That had a mean sound to it, like I would be a villain.

"Since I am just as innocent, wouldn't that make things fair again?" Strangely that reply didn't feel embarrassing at all. I guess it's different when one speaks to someone who knew the truth already.

Haruno started to look in the distance with her head resting on one hand while drumming on the table with the fingers of her other hand.

"You will actually have to date someone if you want to gather that experience. Do you have someone on your mind?"

Now that's a tricky question.

"I guess anyone who wants to will do" I gave a vague reply, but when her eyes lighted up I quickly added a condition. "As long as they are not too far ahead of me."

Haruno looked unhappy that I realised and corrected my slip-up too quickly for her to react on it.

Thus her next question was the most cruel one.

"That will apply to a few girls, how will you chose whom to date?"

How can I chose indeed? The girls that entered my mind were all good girls. I didn't want to hurt any of them. I had no experience to go by in order to anticipate whether a relationship might last or not.

"Do I have to chose?"

"Wouldn't that make you just a gigolo? I wonder what Shizuka-chan would do if I told her that."

Please don't do that. I will die for sure.

"Would it be okay if I set a time limit on the open dating?"

She stopped the drumming on the table.

"How long would that last?"

I hated deadlines, thus I wanted to push it back as far as I could with a serious face.

"A year."

"Wait a moment, I just remembered that I had to give Shizuka-chan a call."

That was obviously a lie. I interrupted her input on her cellphone quickly with a new proposal of a deadline.

"Two and a half months."

Haruno thought a while about it.

"That would be two weeks into the new school year. That sounds reasonable."

She put her phone down on the table. One gigantic crisis averted.

"Well those persons would have to agree on it too."

That was true.

"I'll explain everything properly and will see what it results in."

Since I believed Haruno to be more experienced than me, I decided to ask her something that had been on my mind for a while.

I wanted to pursue something genuine. If I go by the definition of a dictionary, honesty was required.

"Do you think there can be a relationship without lies?"

She didn't look at me when she responded.

"I have never seen one without lies."

It was the answer I expected, but it was also disheartening.

We took our last sip from our drinks and left the café.

Due to the hot coffee we just had, our breaths were strongly visible when we exhaled.

We stood next to each other, looking in the same direction.

Haruno was the first one to speak.

"See you."

"Goodbye,"

We didn't move one centimetre after saying that.

"Hikigaya-kun, I don't think I'll ever grow tired of that monster."

I wonder which monster she was referring to. One was the monster of logic, the other one a self-conscious monster. Both names were oddly cool. I would have liked to see her expression at that time, but I still had to say something as well. Without our gazes looking for ulterior motives we would be able to speak and listen freely.

"Do you still need to play the enemy for Yukinoshita's sake?"

"Thanks to you, I won't need to do that anymore."

After everyone said was on their mind we turned to look in each others eyes.

"But that doesn't mean I will stop being myself."

I made a wry smile to her words.

Haruno's mischievous deeds from Yukinoshita's childhood came to mind.

The older sister waved her hand at me with a warm smile and went away.

It was time for me to head home as well.

I didn't lie when I said I enjoyed her company. Sure it was really stressful, but it was similar to sport. One hated to do it while it was still arduous, but afterwards one was glad to have experienced it.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

My dairy laid still open in front of me and I had a staring-contest going on with it.

I had met Hikio again and like the previous times something out of the ordinary happened.

Being unable to decide whether I should write about it or not made me enter this contest.  
Just why was I so hesitant about it? I didn't dislike him, his presence doesn't bother me and he even had helped me out.

I turned the pages of my diary till the part after the marathon laid open before me.  
My request to the Service Club had been fulfilled at that moment.

I read it. Mhh? Again I had read it. I was pretty sure he was there at that time, but my diary only contained how Yui told me the results and stuff about Yukinoshita-san's ego.

I turned more pages to the point where I actually made the request and read it as well.

Again there was no mention of him in my diary. Just Yui asking me whether it would be okay if the result was a bit unreliable.

I remember clearly though how surprised I was at the resolve that Hikio showed to help me.  
He was even considerate enough to leave the room before I started to cry.

Did I even mention him once before? The pages of my diary rustled as I kept turning them. I did not after the visit to Disney Land and I didn't during the trip to Kyoto.

That was like, totally an awful trip. I really feared that my friends would fall apart at that trip. At least till the moment I heard that Hayato would fix everything, and he did. Our group is still the same as before the field trip. I never asked how he did it though.

No one talked about it afterwards and I was just happy that our life continued with smiles on our faces.

I was restless till the end of the school trip since I didn't trust the source which told me that Hayato would do something about it.

Ah! I remember now who had said that. It was Hikio. I almost forgot about it because it wasn't in my diary.

Instead of going back step by step, I started to look for traces of Hikio in my diary from page one now.

After a while I found something. His first mention. He came out of nowhere into our lives.  
The tennis match where Hayato saved me. Hikio made weird serves that lead to this moment with Hayato. I was so happy when he held me so tightly. Out of thanks for that feeling I gave him this nickname. Hikio.

I looked for more entries with him and I found one more. During the Summer vacation I hung around with Yui and we met him by chance. I stayed away from them to call Ebina, but I was quickly done with that and had heard the rest of their conversation. They talked about Hikio's upcoming birthday. Yui seemed to have a lot of fun laughing so loudly.

The pages were turned and turned, but there was nothing about Hikio from that point on.

Something happened that changed everything. The only time that I spend with Hayato which wasn't written here.

The Summer camp and the horrible night I lived through because of Hikio.

I tried no to remember it but my tears came out already.  
I destroyed the friendship of elementary school girls. Even though the girls were awful that guilt of mine still remained in my heart.

And then those rumours started how he did horrible things to Sagami. I didn't like her, but I felt pity when I saw her crying on the stage of the Cultural Festival.

When Yui and Hikio started to mess with Ebina and Tobe I was really afraid. Nothing good came out of it when he was involved.

Despite all that, Yui still looked out for him. Even when it was in secret sometimes.

If it weren't for that I would have never contacted the Service Club.  
I had three requests and all three were solved without anything bad happening.

My impressions of the other two club members changed for the better, even if only slightly for Yukinoshita-san. Truth to be told my opinion of Hikio was better than that of her.

Really, what was with her ego?

But why am I able to write about her but left him out? It felt wrong to do so.

I patted my dear book, once again it had helped me to reach a decision.

After I was done writing about my encounter with Hikio I could close my diary with a good feeling. There was just one more uncertainty inside me.

Did he really not know that strawberries symbolise love and are used as a romantic gift?

I wanted to buy one for Hayato, so it was embarrassing for me to be seen.

Ahhh... just when I finally had found a good one... I squashed it.

Because of Hikio. Just what is up with that guy?

* * *

Hachiman PoV

The fourth period had ended and I was in my usual spot to eat lunch.

It was your typical Thursday, nothing worth to be remembered had happened.

I liked my spot a lot. Even if it was cold, it was more endurable than the loud classroom.

Unlike a certain someone I wasn't immune to these temperatures though and slightly shivered from time to time.

Thinking back to Miura, wasn't there something I forgot to do?

I continued to eat my lunch in peace as suddenly a whisper from behind made me shiver big time.

"Hachimaaan.."

The voice was familiar but I couldn't quite connect a face to it, so I ignored it completely and didn't even turn my head. There were probably more kids with half-assed parents here with such a name.

"Hachimaaaaaaaan..."

Looks like that other Hachiman is still not responding to that whisper.

"Hachimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan..."

Really, I'll help looking for that other Hachiman if this creepy voice would just stop.

Unexpectedly there was a sudden solar eclipse and it got even colder. My mood went below subzero too.

A fat boy, looking lost, stood between me and the sun. Your parents are probably waiting for you at the reception so shoo shoo.

Upon closer inspection that boy was really unfamiliar with me, unlike the creepy voice. I looked confused at the boy.

"Wh-what's with your weird look partner?"

The familiar voice really came from that boy and only added to my confusion, so much that I had to tilt my head.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?"

"Hmmph, how can you be so meeeeaaaaan!"

I wasn't mean at all, I really had no clue about what was going on.  
My tilted head nearly reached a 90 degree angle before I finally noticed what was wrong.

"Huh? What happened to your coat?"

Why was this person, who wore a coat even during the height of summer, not doing so during the bitterly cold winter?

Zaimokuza had a scary grin on his face as if he had waited for me to ask that. I had a bad premonition.

"I'm glad that you asked. I'm not allowed to wear one anymore by my girlfriiiiiiiieeeeend!"

The bad foreshadow I had came true.

"Quick, I'll bring you to the infirmary! When did you hit your head?"

"Fufufu, I'm glad for your concern, but it's true!"

I couldn't believe my ears. Zaimokuza Yoshiteru had a girlfriend before me. I totally didn't think of his full name out of respect.

Just what was wrong with this world.

"H-how?" The shock made me lose my ability to speak properly.

He tried to make a cool pose with pushing back his glasses. Did they flash for just a moment there?

"You remember how I informed you that I would go to the Winter Comiket?" [5]

I shook my head, it was probably the first time I heard of it. Or I had either ignored or forgotten it. I wasn't sure about it.

"Aaaanyways, I met her there and we exchanged contacts."

Definitely the first time I heard of that fact.

"We texted each other for the past month and a half and decided to meet up on Valentines Day."

"Why have you not told me that earlier?" I was a bit suspicious that he could hold that back without telling me for so long.

"Nuhuh, I was afraid that she was just playing with me..."

Ah, that would have been my initial concern for him too, if he had told me so directly after the Comiket.

"So we had met on Valentine's Day and decided to make a contract."

No surprise there, Comiket-chan must have been a weird person to begin with for getting Zaimokuza as boyfriend.

"What's with that contract thing?"

"It basically is a long list of things I shouldn't do anymore so that she will stay to be my girlfriend. A very long list. Wearing the coat was one of those listed points. The list is huuuuuge."

Was it really necessary to point out the length of the list three times? You're just hurting yourself with that.

I took a good look on Zaimokuza for the first time. If he could stop his antics, wear normal clothes, goes on a diet, quit his half-assedness and get that sweat under control, he would actually be a tall man with a good heart.

My respect for Comiket-chan shot through the roof. If she was serious about it, she would be ready for an interesting long-time project. Even I wanted to see the result. I doubted that I could ever call him handsome though, but that wouldn't really be a necessity for a good result.

"Don't mess it up then."

I raised my hand to signal my intention to leave, the fifth period was about to start.

"I won't, partner!"

Haruno was right, I needed to go on dates soon.

With the ringing chime to start the fifth period, it started to be a proper Thursday again.

The teachers along with my classmates ignored my existence. Well there were a few occasional looks on me, but no one had bothered me so I didn't try to find the source. It wasn't unusual at all. Since my place wasn't in the last row of the classroom, it was inevitable that some glances would hit me from time to time.

As if the school knew that Yuigahama was out with a cold there had been no requests today either. Yukinoshita and I had tea in the clubroom without much talking the whole afternoon.

I wondered if she knew that I had met her sister yesterday, but nothing she said, indicated it.

* * *

At home Komachi handed me over the shopping list and I found myself inside the supermarket again. Miura just had just gotten in line for the register, so I didn't walk up to her today. I was familiar with the grocery store by now and finished the short list within three minutes.

I lined up as well, with two persons between me and Miura. If it were just me and her I had no problems to greet her anymore, but with people close around us I didn't feel up to the task.

All I could do was looking at her.

She wore a snow-white coat with a large sized artificial fur collar which hid half of her cheek.

Probably because of the heated area around the register the cheek was faintly red. I could only watch her in profile as Miura was about to pay for her shopping goods at that moment, but I still saw her left eye clearly. The shimmering collar tried to compete with the shining green eye that looked like a flawless emerald and lost to it. By losing her outfit perfectly brought forth Miura's natural beauty.

For a girl who didn't seem to know what pants were, she surely knew how to dress in a breathtaking way.

The area around the register really was heated well. My head got so hot I had to look in the opposite direction.

Not much time had passed till it was my turn.

I quickly handed over the correct amount of money that I had prepared beforehand and wanted to leave, but my way was blocked.

All the time I had been busy with thinking of a winter wonderland to cool myself, looking sideways at most, that I did not see that Miura had waited for me.

One of her eyes was already dazzling enough before, but now I faced both of them fully unprepared. Needless to say that I was shocked.

We didn't move, looks like she waited for me to do something.

Oh right, the greeting.

"Goo, goo, goo ..." I felt like a complete fool. My words didn't came out like I wanted to. I was surprised I didn't fall down on my knees to bow before her, like she would be some kind of princess.

Apparently she had enough of my stutter and sighed.

"It's 'hello' Hikio. How many times do I have to tell you, so you can greet me properly just once?"

She turned on her heels and headed for the exit.

"Ah, hello." I could only say that to her back as she had turned around too fast for my brain to react.

As I wondered whether this was some kind of payback for yesterday or not, I hurried after her.

She might have waited for me, but I didn't hear a greeting from Miura again.

Outside the supermarket we walked next to each other like the days before.

"Did you call Yui?"

I knew I had forgotten to do something yesterday.

"I'll definitely will do that today." My voice was as steady as it could be. At least I tried to sound like it would clear any doubt about my resolve to use my cellphone today.

Miura shook her head at me and sighed. "Just why does she put up with you."

"I guess she got kind of attached to Yukinoshita."

Scary! A frown was send my way. I made the resolve to better not bring up their good relationship again when Miura was around. That jealousy was strong.

"But what do I know, maybe she's just there for the free tea."

It didn't seem like she was buying that weak excuse, looks like she was a step ahead of Gahama-san.

Whether she sensed my concern over her feelings or just wanted to move on from the topic, she threw another question at me.

"Why didn't you call her _this time_?"

There was a strong reproachful vibe from the way she emphasised the last words.

"I got a call by Yukinoshita's sister and had to meet her immediately."

"So she has a sister huh..." It was kind of cute how she tried to say that nonchalantly as if to say she had no interest at all, but her glances still urged me to go on.

"She is quite the meddlesome person. That reminds me, you have met her at the academic and career center."

Miura's puzzled look gave away that she didn't remember her.

"It was the person Hayama said to be his childhood friend."

"Ha? That busty woman is Yukinoshita-san's sister?!"

The reference to Hayama made her remember, huh?

Also how did she saw Yukinoshita, the great flat wall? Aside from the size of their bosoms there were plenty of similarities between the two. It was so like Miura though, to focus on the area where she clearly won over Yukinoshita.

I couldn't stop myself to make a wry smile.

"You seem to think of the right person."

"Why did you meet with her?

She really liked to ask questions, did she? I wondered if she wanted to be a police officer after school.

"We had a request by Yukinoshita and her sister wanted to inform me how our solution turned out."

Something from my reply must have piqued her interest. Now even her eyes started to ask me questions along with her voice.

"Why would she only tell you that and how did she know your phone number?"

I had no problem answering the first part.

"I called her to participate in the solution I came up with."

"And why would you know her phone number?"

Was it this important where a phone number came from?

"It was in my call history."

"Again, how did she know your phone number?"

Is she obsessed with phone numbers or what? I really didn't want to answer that as it would just lead to more question that I was uncomfortable with. Her inquiring gaze didn't let me off though, she pressured me successfully. She would be a fine police officer.

"She got it from Hayama." It was barely more than a whisper, but Miura still understood it perfectly.

Her mouth moved the instant I had spoken those words, but her voice didn't reach my ears.

I could see on her face how she struggled with herself. After a while she had decided on a question.

"How did it keep you from calling Yui afterwards?"

I was glad she didn't press on with the Hayama topic.

"Well, her sister is even more tiring to deal with than Yukinoshita."

"So her personality is quite the handful too..."

I wasn't quite sure whether she meant Yukinoshita's personality or Haruno's breasts with the 'too', but if it was indeed the latter then I better don't ask her for clarification.

"You could say that." If she was vague, then I would be as well.

A silence followed that made me think back to yesterday.

Aside from the talk about the result there had been one other topic. Relationships.

I asked Haruno a question because she was experienced. Would it be okay to ask Miura the same question?

I had consulted her about relationships before and she had replied immediately. Miura's determination made me able to overstep my boundaries with Yukinoshita, when I asked Yukinoshita about her own career plan.

It should be fine right?

"Do you think a relationship is possible when everyone is always honest?"

Miura stopped to walk and so did I. My gaze scrutinised every tiny reaction of hers. I could see how her jaw moved, but her mouth didn't even open. Did she want to reply at the same speed as last time, but could not do so? I kind of expected her to say 'of course!' immediately. That would have been a typical reply of a maiden.

She did not. Miura did nothing for a while. Did she deliberate on her group of friends? That group stuck together with the help of small lies. I lost my belief that this was wrong at the Kyoto field trip, when I had watched them closely. But now I couldn't accept it anymore for myself. My genuine thing would be tainted this way and destroyed.

Or did she think of only Hayama? My mind stopped when I saw that Miura had found an answer she wanted to present.

"I would like for it to be possible."

That answer was certainly different from Haruno's. It was more positive, but far from the optimistic answer I had expected. I had hoped for more, but this sounded more realistic. Strangely I preferred this reply, it seemed more honest.

After it there happened something I didn't anticipate either.

Miura looked very sad and that made me feel bad. I was dumb to not have realised what a cruel question that must have been for her. Her maiden heart longed for something honest but my question forced her to think about all the lies that had piled up.

"I'm sorry."

I could only apologise to her, since I didn't know how to cheer her up. People like Yuigahama could do such things, but not me.

There had been no tears yet, but she still wiped her eyes with her sleeves.

"It's okay. Did you talk about that with Yukinoshita-san's sister too?"

"Yes." I accompanied my reply with a nod.

"Sounds like you are close with her."

This was something I wanted to deny as strongly as possible.

"Not at all, I've just –"

"What kind of person is she?"

Miura interrupted my rebuttal as if it was just a waste of time to listen to.

Was she used to my behaviour to deny everything on first sight already?

I wondered if Haruno interested her because she was Hayama's childhood friend.

"She is a mischievous troublemaker that has no sense of personal space.  
That woman even talks to other people's little sisters behind their back to get hold of personal data that she could use. Even without that, she knows way too much about others to ruin their planned schedules. Yukinoshita's sister is just focused on her own fun, everything that bores her is no good such as repetitions.  
Also she is way too obsessed with her little sister's affairs." Although that last part I could comprehend very well.

Miura chuckled after I finished my description.

"You have a weird way to describe people in a good way."

Something was wrong with that conclusion, did she even list to me? I clearly said words like 'mischievous'.

Well, if one didn't know the person in question, one could mistake my description for a cheerful someone, who paid close attention to others and cared about family.

My words were too tame to convey reality properly.

"It's my mothers fault to have taught me not to say bad things about others."

"The rumours how you badmouthed Sagami weren't true then?"

That came out of nowhere. The expression on Miura's face told me that it was a serious question for her.

"No, they are probably all true." That was a risky statement as I didn't know all the rumours. No one had talked to me about them after all and I only picked them up by overhearing them.

"I said it directly to Sagami's face, Yukinoshita's sister isn't here to defend herself. Therefore the situation is different"

Her face turned complicated, had she not believed these rumours before?

Luckily that didn't last long.

"For a castoff like you, you are too honest for your own good."

"What does it make you for listening to such a castoff, I wonder?"

"Ha? What do you think I am?"

Confronted with an interesting question I started to think about it. It didn't take long for me to realise that it probably just was a rhetorical question. Maybe three seconds. But this small pause was enough for Miura to raise her eyebrow.

Now she really expected an answer from me. If I only had not played along with the banter.  
Yukinoshita had a bad influence on me.

It was too late, I had to think seriously about the question. Actually I knew quite a lot about Miura, mainly from Yuigahama's randomly dropped facts, but my observations weren't to be underestimated either, so it took me a while to think everything through.

I could feel how Miura's anticipation grew with every second I needed to think.

The conclusion I arrived at surprised even me. I couldn't find a mistake in my thoughts though.

"Lonely."

What followed reminded me of Miura as the Queen of fiery hell. It was too late to take the word back, I knew that better than anyone else.  
I could only watch what unfolded in front of me.

Her face got red and all muscles twitched of anger. She even clenched her fist and raised it. Would she get violent like against Yukinoshita? I feared the worst as I didn't know how I should defend myself from a girl. Her glare was burning of wrath that was able to leave my soul scorched.  
But instead of coming at me, Miura stormed of ahead with quick steps.

Was it that wrong what I had said? It didn't feel like it as I had thought it through thoroughly.

That's why her reaction confused me so much. I tilted my head as I watched her back getting further away. When the distance between us was around 30 metres she turned around to look at me again. Her face had not changed at all. Not a single word came out of her mouth but everything about her body language screamed that I shouldn't dare to follow her.

And thus I didn't. I remained rooted on the spot till she was completely gone from my sight.

With the usual path unavailable to me, getting home was going to take way more time today.

I hated this outcome.

* * *

Komachi proved to be a world class sister again. She must have felt me being down and gave me a normal cooking lesson without any antics.

The way she respected my mood actually cheered me up a bit.

Enough that it gave me the courage to call Yuigahama. I didn't know whether Miura would talk to me ever again or not. If she does, it would have been very bad to forget the call again.

For someone of Miura's position to be called lonely, must have been the ultimate insult. At least that was the conclusion I came up with.

After dinner was over I finally made the call.  
The phone rang three times it was picked up and a female voice could be heard.

"Hello? This is the Yuigahama household."

What a weird way to greet on a cellphone and Yuigahama's voice sounded different from usual. That was to be expected though, since she had a cold.

"Hello, Hikigaya here. Sorry for the late call."

"Oh, were you worried about me Hikki?"

So direct.

"Uhm, Yukinoshita mentioned you will miss a week and I wondered whether you'll be back in school by Monday."

"Hikki-kun, there is no need to be so shy. Do you want to come over?"

Kun? What was up with...?

"Can I talk with Yuigahama Yui please?"

"Tch... you figured out already?"

It really was her mother, what a sneaky woman.

"Not immediately though, did I call the wrong number?"

"I had to confiscate her cellphone because she wouldn't stop staring at it instead of resting, you should have called her sooner."

What a caring mother, but I thought Yuigahama would freak out if she had heard that.

"I'm sorry, I had a busy week till now."

"Don't worry too much, just apologise to her properly. I'll go wake her up, just a moment!"

What an irresponsible mother to wake up her sick daughter. It was too early for her to have gone to sleep normally, she slept clearly due to her sickness.

I protested but her mother either didn't hear or ignored me.

The only thing I could do was to hang on and listen.

"Mama... let me sleep."

"Your Hikki boy is on the phone."

"...Wh-whaaaat?!"

"You don't need to do your hair, he can't seen you."

"Mama! Get out!"

"Okay, okay."

I could hear a door being closed.

"Hello? Hikki?"

"Sounds like I called at a bad time sorry."

Good, that she couldn't see my face right now. What I had heard was so embarrassing.

"No, no... it's okay... w-wait, 'sounds'? D-did you hear anything?"

"I saw nothing, heard nothing, and knew nothing at all!" [4]

"That totally was a lie!" Her high-pitched voice forced me to move the phone away from my ear.

"I can't deny that."

"Please deny it!" Even if you sounded so desperate, there was nothing I could do.

"Hahaha!" I only let out a weak laugh. "So yeah, uhm, how are you doing?"

"I'm much better now, thanks for asking."

She coughed two times. I won't be able to deny that either.

"You'll be in the clubroom on Monday?"

"Most likely yes, but before that I will be in your classroom too, you know?! I'm totally your classmate!"

Really? I didn't think I noticed someone being absent from my class.

"Good to hear you being so energetic. I'll see you Monday then."

"Ahh wa–"

I feared for a moment that she wanted to prolong the phone call, but I was thankful for her next sentence.

"See you then. Thanks for calling Hikki."

"I'm sorry it took so long."

I was already past my limit when I ended the call.

Speaking with a girl over the telephone was truly exhausting.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

...

* * *

[1] A Japanese citrus fruit with a season from November to February

[2] The story is from Yui's Birthday Drama CD

[3] The aftermath of the Sagami event where described as such a big thing in the LN

[4] This is not unique to European countries, Mexico would be another example, but I couldn't find their reasoning for it

[5] He was absent during the summer camp event because of the Comiket.

[6] An expression often used in Toradora!

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **That was the longest chapter of the story, kind of fitting as the normal life takes up most of our life time. Like the name of the chapter implies this is my interpretation of how Hachiman and Yumiko would talk to each other if they would meet in a familiar place at the end of Volume 11. For example, like Yumiko would have another request but only Hachiman is present in the clubroom. Their talk while they waited for the other members could have such a dynamic.**

 **Yumiko's last PoV won't be in the beginning of the next chapter, but later into it. I added it here already for two reasons. To show that I didn't forget it and not to mess with my time line. It happened here, but I don't let you know at this moment.**

 **I thought long about whether to use a story from a lesser known source or an original one of my own. In the end I decided to go with the story from a Drama CD. Since my fanfic is a strict continuation, I thought it was better not to add relevant none-canon stories about the past.**

 **Like stated in the note of chapter 2, I'm within my planned schedule. So next chapter will finally conclude the rest of their confirmed thoughts about each other. A few were already present in this one, but not the most important ones. Of course Hachiman will explain then in detail how he reached his 'lonely' conclusion in this chapter based on the LN.**

 **Now for the reviews. Thank you everyone for them, like last time I will address those with issues or questions.**

 **BentShuriken** I won't make them neighbours as there are two things that reason against it. 1. Hachiman doesn't know Yumiko from middle school 2. When they drove home from Disney Land Yumiko took a different train line than Hachiman (both lines are similar but it does create a slight distance). I wrote that the supermarket was 'rather far away' to bypass that.

 **oxcgen** Thank you for pointing the you/you're mistakes out. I corrected them and will make a specific round to check for them in the future.

 **uchiha007** I actually thought about adding it, but since it was the very last part of chapter two, rather small and concluded 'girl' early on, I decided to leave that as a surprise. Since chapter 3 has way more of these switches, I added it every time and will do so from now on. Thank you.

 **Guest** I thank you for your concern about the too many plot lines, but it only appears as such at this moment. Further down the story the reader has a chance to see that as well. I have to strongly reject your claim that I steal from other fanfics. Of course I don't know them all, I only read a few, but at the time of your comment (ch2), everything had its source in the LN. If there are similarities, it's because they used the same source. Example: Yukino's request, Her mother acted after she knew that Yukino didn't pick science, the path which is generally viewed as superior, in Volume 11. In Volume 10.5 in Zaimokuza's part it was revealed that Yukino had no idea what to work as in the future, much to the surprise of everyone. I combined that into problem and solution of her request in my continuation story. That Iroha had to prepare a speech was mentioned in V11, that Hachiman was in charge of these duties before and so on. I mostly mentioned such sources within the text by saying 'Hiratsuka-sensei mentioned it last time already that...' etc. I would only ruin my own fun writing this fanfiction if I stole from others.

 **Flash Falcon** She has no romantic feelings for Hachiman at the end of Volume 11, it's all about Hayama for her. But she has at least one confirmed other feeling for Hachiman. I will state that one in the next chapter.

 **QS** Thank you for concerns, I already tried to increase direct speech in this chapter to reduce that kind of fatigue. I know it all to well from reading the 6.25 to 6.75 Novel about the Athletic Festival.

 **hikigaya** What's going on between them is interesting enough to me to write this fanfic and explore that route myself. It does have enough material to be pursued, but I doubt it will happen outside of video games.

 **If there is something you want to ask about just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 4 again.**


	4. Can this even be called comforting?

I didn't feel well when I woke up. By itself that was not unusual at all, considering this day was a working day. However, most people liked Fridays because it signalled the upcoming weekend. For a person like me, who lived only in the here and now, it was just another round of being forced into a classroom full of other people.

Today the idea of going to the facility called school was even less attractive than normal though.

The reason was yesterday's parting with Miura.

I shouldn't have to feel bad about it. Nothing I said was wrong in my eyes. I had no malicious intent when I said that word, actually I was truly surprised by the sudden turn of events.

But what was done was done. The word was said. It was irreversible.

Even if I was used to meeting her by now, it should be no problem to turn back to how it was before. I was a loner after all. Shopping by myself, going home by myself, this was my natural state.

So why did I feel so uncomfortable with it?

I wouldn't miss these times I met her, would I? It probably was more like my faith in honesty was shaken so quickly after deeming it necessary for the genuine thing I longed for.

My honesty destroyed a fragile bond in a flash.

I shook my head. No, I clearly wasn't at fault. It had to be Miura who was responsible by being unable to accept my answer.

I finally got up from the bed. All this thinking put me on the edge of getting late for school again. In my current condition I wouldn't be able to endure Hiratsuka-sensei's punishment.

I tried to wash away the uncomfortable feeling inside the bathroom, but nonetheless I thought all the way to school about yesterday's question again. Always arriving at the same conclusion that was contrary to Miura's public image. It was a contrast like day and night. However I was not mistaken. I was so immersed in the word 'lonely', that I was lucky not to have gotten into any accident along the way.

* * *

I arrived inside the classroom just moments before the lesson was about to start. With my activated stealth skill I went for my desk.

But, weirdly, my pace got slower the closer I got to my seat and the reason was a cold gaze that froze me bit by bit. My skill didn't work today, the gaze followed me all the way. I could only guess who was the source of it as I avoided eye contact.

The change of my pace most likely gave away that, despite my attempts, the glare had an effect on me. At this point I was just glad to not have become an ice sculpture before I arrived at my desk.

When the class greeted the teacher I thought to be finally freed from the piercing glance, but immediately afterwards it was stuck on me again. It was that way through all of the first period so that I couldn't remember anything from the class.

During the first break were a few times the feeling of the glare had vanished, and I took one of those chance to glance myself at the origin from the corner of my eye.

Indeed, it had been Miura.

She was currently talking with Hayama like everything was normal, the only thing that pointed at me was her cellphone.

I tried to use that chance for recovery from the nearly endless attack during first period while pretending to be asleep.

When I stopped hearing Miura's or Hayama's voices I felt her eyes staring daggers at me again.

A few minutes later I heard something like 'Did you receive some bad news on your phone?' from Ebina. So that was how she disguised it.

After the fourth period was over, I left the classroom as quickly as never before. I didn't even bother to hide my presence. I just wanted to get away from this gold gaze. It lasted all this time and it really freaked me out. Psychological torture, I even thought about escaping to the infirmary for the rest of the day. The idea flew out of the window when I saw Hiratsuka-sensei talking with the nurse.[1] I might could have fooled the nurse, but not the teacher in her thirties, most likely still single.

With no option but to return to the classroom I dragged my feet towards it. Needless to say that I entered at the last possible second, as well that her green eyes didn't grant me any break till the time for club activities had arrived.

Miura mostly stayed inside the classroom for a while till the boys of their group had to leave for their clubs. Since I knew this, I made another quick escape to avoid bumping into her at the bottleneck called door.

Luckily she didn't went out of her way to confront me. Did I take myself too important again? What a fool I am. I did expect that there would be slight side effects when I readied my mind about the possibility of having a girlfriend, but for those to involve completely unrelated persons like Miura surprised me. Inside my mind I scolded myself for it. Apart from those who wanted to spend time with me, nothing had changed. Miura was just another classmate, no need to be overly aware.

The previous lengthy torture made it hard to believe my own words though.

I guess she really wasn't like the other 'what's-their-names?' anymore. Nonetheless, even without her being angry at me, she had no role in what was to come on Monday, when Yuigahama would go to school again.

* * *

My mind was cleared of any unneeded thoughts when I arrived at the door to the clubroom.

Nothing of this level should have affected me in the beginning. I took one deep breath, and filled with new energy, I opened the door.

"Yo."

"Hello."

After we exchanged our usual greetings, I went to my seat and started to read my book.

That was the plan initially, but the moment I sat down on my chair, I was hit by a wave of fatigue. I didn't know how tiring today's harsh treatment really was till this moment

Miura's eyes were too powerful. Even Medusa's petrification required eye contact in order to work.[2]

I was so worn out that I forgot to flip the pages in order to hide my feeble condition. It was no surprise that Yukinoshita noticed my odd behaviour quite quickly.

"Is there a word that the third ranked in Japanese can't understand?"

"Shouldn't that be 'Can I offer you help as the first ranked?'?"

Why can't she be nice directly just one time? What a hinedere.[3]

"At least assume first that I philosophised within my thoughts about its content."

Yukinoshita put her hand on her chin.

"That seems to be too unlikely since you are still on the first page." So she really had not thought of it first.

I have no energy for this today. Not that I won that often on a normal day either. Since no one else would, I tried to lift my own mood.

"Just because it's a light novel you shouldn't take it lightly even if they don't weight a lot."

I snickered at my own pun. The only reaction I got from Yukinoshita was a hand on her temple though. I certainly wasn't like Hiratsuka-sensei, who was the only one to laugh at her own bad jokes, it was just that Yukinoshita had a strange sense of humour. It really was funny, at least a bit. Argh, who cares?

"Was that an attempt to look away from reality's hardships again? That can't be healthy."

"If there is something that is not healthy, then it is to face it all the time. Life is so painfully cruel that even the toughest soldiers suffer from it. Even society has accepted breaks as necessity, otherwise corporate slaves wouldn't have vacations once in a while."

The massage she gave her own temple got more intensive the longer I spoke.

"Did you just put your school life on the same level as a war experience?"

"My life is a constant struggle..." My voice grew meek, even I knew it was quite the stretch, but I couldn't think of anything worthwhile. I could really use an ether right now. [4]

"You seem to have forgotten where you are right now. If something is troubling you, I would, unfortunately, have to listen to it as president of the Service Club."

Even if there was a very unpleasant word mixed in there, I guess she offered me her help.

"I talked to someone and the person stormed off." Considering her relationship with Miura I refrained from mentioning details.

"For that to affect you that much, it must have been someone you cared about." She placed her hand on her chin once more, probably to figure out who it was.

"No, no, it was neither Komachi nor Totsuka." There was no one else I cared about. Oh, It wasn't me either. While I did talk with myself sometimes, it was hard to storm off from yourself.

"So it was someone else.." Yukinoshita had an astonished look on her face, it kind of hurt somehow. I did know a few more persons, it was just that I didn't want to be remembered of them, like a certain guy who recently got a girlfriend out of nowhere.

Since I remained silence, she continued.

"Your eyes certainly would have the effect of making someone run away."

"It had nothing to do with my eyes. I just stated my opinion and it wasn't well received."

Yukinoshita cutely tilted her head.

"Are you sure? Your words can be quite insulting, but the eyes are way more potent."

"Enough with my eyes already..." I wanted to say it firmly, but her strong attack dealt me the finishing blow. My HP were already close to zero from Miura's eyes, I couldn't take in Yukinoshita's harsh words as well. At this rate I was close to develop a posttraumatic stress order for real from the battlefield called school.

The table had to support my body in this time of weakness, but it didn't seem to be build as steadily as I thought. It shook slightly, or was I weeping a bit?

It really was only slightly. I didn't have to bury my face in my arms, there were just a few tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. For that reason I could see that Yukinoshita looked troubled all of a sudden. She probably thought it was only because of her actions that I ended up like this. It surely surprised her too, as I normally would take her abuses without flinching that much. It only showed how strong Miura's attacks during the day were.

I didn't show any sign of recovery and Yukinoshita arrived at the conclusion that she wanted to comfort me. The stretched out hand of hers was retracted though. Uncomfortable of touching me? In reality there was nothing about me that could warrant calling me Hikigerma, you know?

Not like I wanted to be patted on my head, even though Komachi seemed to like it when I did it to cheer her up.

Suddenly her face lit up and she walked to her bag. I couldn't identify the item she had retrieved from it when she came back to me, as she hid it behind her back.

During her movement on placing it on my head I finally saw it, but it was too late to do anything. The next moment I only heard a sweet a voice talking to me and felt a hand stroking my hair.

"Meow."

The unfortunately not so unfamiliar meowing of a girl reached my ears.

 _What are you doing?_

Yukinoshita's face was bright red, like completely, but even if she had worn a green hat, I wouldn't have dared to call her something as disgusting as a tomato right now.[5] She looked extremely cute. The redness spread from hers to my face as well. Luckily the setting sun should cover me, although it probably was doing it more so for Yukinoshita. The sun in Chiba was really overprotective towards the girls.[6]

"Nyaaah~ nyaaah~" The voice and the comforting continued and sometimes the Alice band with cat ears on it, that she had placed on my head, moved from the stroking.

I asked myself what kind of face I made to this scene.

That moment Yukinoshita retracted her hand again and quickly pulled out her cellphone. Again she was too quick for me and a flash filled my eyes.

I reconsidered my desire to know the state of my face immediately.

Another embarrassing event was carved into my heart.

* * *

'What a weird day' I thought when I stood in front of Komachi to get the shopping list from her.

I had no recollection of what happened in the clubroom today. I totally didn't remember how a photo of me was made, how Yukinoshita nonchalantly took the cat ears off my head and how we ignored each other while urging the clock to hurry up. We didn't speak a single word even after the club activity finally ended. Not even when we walked through the school, nor when I picked up my bike. We didn't even said our goodbyes. For someone like Yukinoshita, who was so strict with manners, it was truly unusual.

Well, since I didn't remember it, it didn't really happen. Similar to the old question whether there was really a sound in a forest if there was no one to listen to it.

After she handed over the list, her phone started to vibrate.

"Oh! It's from Yukino-san!" She smiled so brightly that I wondered how she could top that for the times she received my mails. "Huh? An attachment?"

My blood froze as I suddenly had a bad premonition.

Komachi's eyes widened so much that I worried about her eyeballs falling out of their sockets.

"Onii-chan?"

"Y-yes?" My little sister had such a devilish grin that I leaked out a high-pitched voice.

"I forgot something that I have to add on the list. Would you hand it back to me?"

Of course I would do so if you asked me in such a sweet tone.

When she was done adding something to the list she pushed it against my stomach. While I was busy catching it with my hands, Komachi already had turned around and went away humming something ever so charming.

Despite how wonderful her actions were, they did leave me troubled after I had looked on the list.

Should I buy the cat food now or was it just a jab at me? The small drawing of a cat's face next to the added item didn't make it any clearer for me.

We really have a cat you know...

Before I closed the door of our house I heard Kamakura's meowing. I might as well do it, even if it wasn't the most delightful meowing of this day.

* * *

The way to the grocery store was filled with anxiety. I didn't think Miura would care about a bunch of strangers inside the shop, if she really wanted to take action on me. Even with Hayama in the classroom she already did as it pleased her. Though aside from psychological pressure I didn't remember any acts of violence done by her, at least inside the classroom. Outside of it, there was the attempted attack on Yukinoshita. Thanks to the club president's abilities it didn't escalate further than a holding, so I didn't know how far Miura would have really taken it. I prepared my mind for the worst when I entered the shop.

With my guard raised to the maximum I started to look around for Miura. It didn't take long to realise that she wasn't here. I let out a long sigh after I was convinced of it. It was unexpected that it was her who would avoid me, since she was such a strong-minded and straightforward person. Because of that I felt like the perpetrator for a moment. I even had to clap my cheeks slightly to snap out of that thinking. I did nothing wrong.

Without any needless thoughts I started to work through the shopping list. I even chose the cat food carefully, but I doubted that Kamakura would thank me in any way though.

After I had paid for everything, I exited the supermarket. A chilly wind hit me, but it felt like summer breeze as my blood was already frozen by what my eyes had discovered before that.

With crossed arms and a frown, colder than any weather during this year's winter, on her face, Miura stood in front of me.

Despite the strong wind and the shortness of her skirt I couldn't get a single glimpse of her panties. Witchcraft! If I had to die this afternoon, at least let the last colour I would see be pink and not the red of my blood.[7]

I gulped when Miura started to walk and closed the two meters that distanced us without a sign of hurry. If I weren't that scared it would have looked totally cool, like she was showing her prey that escaping would be futile. She came to a halt next to me with our shoulders nearly touching each other. The next thing I expected was a punch drilling into my stomach, but it never came. I just heard two words from her.

"Wait here." Without waiting for my confirmation she entered the grocery store.

Like anyone would wait patiently for his own execution.

Why does it have to be outside in the first place? It was cold and I wanted at least to wait inside. However, like bounded by a curse I waited obediently for her return.

* * *

Yumiko PoV from the end of chapter 3

I looked angrily at my diary like it had betrayed me. Just one day after it helped me to decide that I would include him in it, something outrageous happened. It was just one word, but like a stuck thorn it had pierced my heart and continued to hurt me. I even had trouble to keep my tears in me. Why was I feeling pain when I thought about his answer?

It just didn't make any sense. How could I be lonely?

I'm surrounded by friends, we hang out a lot, be it in or outside of the school and also during vacations. Even the person I loved stood by my side at all these times.

Just what was that guy thinking?

At first I thought he wanted to insult me and of course I got mad at him. I mean, like, who wouldn't? I wanted to grab his collar and scream my anger at him. It was hard to control myself, but in the end I managed to do it and went away. I totally had every right to storm off like I did. With every step my confusion got bigger, till I could no longer resist the urge to look back. I needed a hint for his action as I did not understand it. Sure, we weren't friends but at least we got along, didn't we? There was no reason for him to act like that. Was he really the horrible person the rumours claimed him to be? The last few days, was everything an act to fool me?

Before I had turned around, I expected to see him laughing at me, but he didn't.

He had tilted his head and looked visibly confused.

I didn't understand anything anymore when I saw his reaction.

My irritation didn't allow me to go back and inquire his motives and I needed time for myself to think clearly again. So I went home.

On my way home I had imagined several possible motives for why he would say what he said. I disregarded every single of them. A certain motive got me even madder. What if he made a move on me? He should know better than anyone else that I was in love with Hayato as he was the only person to have actually helped me regarding Hayato. Did he help me for that reason? I pushed that thought away, like every other too. His reaction didn't fit that motive either. I let out a long sigh and I looked at the clock. It was time to put the diary away.

Through all the evening my mind couldn't get any rest and the word 'lonely' still hurt me a lot without knowing exactly why.

I was already in my bed when I arrived at the conclusion that I basically didn't know how he thought. After all, I barely knew anything about him. Yui didn't talk about the club nor its members. The things I knew were from watching him occasionally or from his own words. I started to doubt, that he had the intention to hurt me deliberately, when I thought of his stories again. Would one really say all these embarrassing things just to be mean later on? The way he spoke about his own sister or that of Yukinoshita-san, only a good person would talk like that about close people.

I felt that knowing his intention was the key to get rid of the pain.

Yes, tomorrow I will observe him closely for clues. Filled with this determination my consciousness drifted finally into the land of dreams and thus to Hayato.

* * *

Yumiko PoV after school at home

Nothing. I couldn't figure out a single thing today. I only knew that the pain did not go away over the night. Even till this afternoon, just thinking about this word still hurt me.

It was because of this pain I had to endure that my anger flared up the moment I saw him entering the classroom. The only odd thing was that he got slower the closer he got his desk before collapsing on it.

 _Did he have a tough night, if so what did I have? Was he mocking me with this act?_ I had these thoughts when I witnessed that scene. Needless to say I got even angrier.

Not once did he look at me. He seemed to be asleep not only throughout the lessons but also during the small breaks. I could see him shiver from time to time, so I knew that he just pretended be asleep. In reality he only tried to keep a low profile. Even though my eyes didn't miss it, other than that I couldn't learn anything from him. His posture was so unchanging that I got bored from observing it. When my mind started to wander, I wondered why the teachers never scolded him for not paying attention to class. Aside from the SHR we had no lesson with Hiratsuka-sensei today. [8]

She wouldn't ignore him like the other teachers.

Their relationship seemed weird. I recently saw how she punched him inside the classroom, but no one questioned it. Not even the victim.

The chime signalling the end of the fourth period ended his inactivity. Fast like a flash he went out of the room. I noticed that he didn't eat normally inside the classroom, but storming off like that certainly didn't fit his lazy personality.

I was already prepared to not learn anything about his intention, even if he had remained on his seat. Lunch break was the highlight of my day and there was no way I had let get that go to waste because of him. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to invite Hayato to something after school. School clubs eat away so much of his time. At least the weekend was about to start and we will meet us like on most of the weekends. What could we do this time? I was just glad to spend time with Hayato that I didn't care much about what we actually do.

* * *

I took a look at the clock. Normally I would go to the supermarket at this time. I had no motivation to do that as he would surely be there. It was the best chance to make him talk without having to worry about Hayato seeing me with him.

But what should I do if he ignored me or escaped, while I was still stuck at the register? I didn't care about the impressions of strangers, even it was something as unsightly as being mistaken for a quarrelling couple. I couldn't just run after him without paying though, it would make me a thief. I wouldn't be able to explain that to my parents.  
I knew that I had a short temper, especially when it came to anger or crying.

Thus I hesitated a while longer whether I should go or not.

In the end I decided to go, I wouldn't wait for this pain to go away someday.  
I'll confront him for an explanation.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Miura didn't exactly hurry with her shopping, thus I ended up thinking why I waited for her to come out. Without moving my body in this gelid weather, it lost its warmth quickly. Was there anything I hoped to achieve by doing as she told me?

Sometimes I could see her through the window. She behaved like on any other day I saw her inside this store. That also meant that she wasn't slower than usual either. I surprised myself with this positive look on the situations.

To have expectations from a loosely connected person will only result in disappointment.

Most likely the real reason was, that she forgot that I was standing here. I really wanted to go home to save me from another bad experience, but my body didn't move. Perhaps it was already too stiff from the cold.

I continued to wait, slightly admiring Miura how she stuck to her own pace and path without care.

When she finally came out, my classmate revealed no reaction on her face to the fact that I waited obediently. Was she naturally expecting for people to put up with her demands? I was fairly sure that most would have escaped, considering how scared my schoolmates were of her. _If she was already mad at you, it wouldn't make a difference whether one waited or not, so one might as well run away._ That's how I believed those guys would think.

If even Gahama-san caught up on this fact, Miura should have done so way earlier.

Was it because it was me that she had a different expectation?

Like earlier she passed me by closely, but without stopping next to me or saying anything.

Maybe it was because she didn't hear my footsteps, that she called out to me without turning.

"Come."

The curse was lifted, wooo magic! I was amazed how my legs, which were so reluctant earlier, had no troubles to move again. Though I did pick up some scary creaking sounds from them.

Before I caught up to her side, I used the time walking in her blind spot to check my head for an Alice band with dog ears. Cats like me shouldn't be so acquiescent.

"I'm listening."

Huh? I couldn't hear anything unusual, what was she listening to?

While we continued to walk Miura's head turned to the side and looked at me.

Oh, _I_ was supposed to say something? Shouldn't she be the one to talk after commanding me around? She couldn't possibly want to hear an apology from me. If there was something I was definitely sure of, then it was not to be at fault here.

I couldn't remain silent for much longer, but since I didn't plan to apologise, I talked about a different topic.

"About the phone call, I –"

A loud sigh interrupted me, before I could even start properly.

"Don't you ever learn?" Miura shook her had while asking me.

Learn? Ah.

"Hello." I felt some warmth returning into my body when I recognised this familiar exchange.

Her mood couldn't be that bad if she was still keen on getting a normal greeting.

Walking helped too with getting the body to warm up again.

As quickly as the warmth came, it was blown away the next moment already.

It was probably the same look on her face, she had during the whole day at school. I couldn't confirm it as I didn't dared to answer the gaze with my own back then, but it felt the same as now.

Her stern eyes concentrated on me. She was probably getting onto the main topic next, but as long as she didn't say anything I only showed an apathetic face. My lack of reaction caused her to clench her fist again and her shoulders trembled. Watching me like this must have filled her with anger again.

Unlike yesterday there was no emotional outburst, like storming off. She was able to hold back today.

"Just what were you thinking when you called me 'lonely'?!"

The question thrown at my head was a few levels above a normal volume, her voice didn't hold back at all. There was even one elder woman who turned to us in surprise at the sudden yelling. Luckily there was no one else around.

I opened my moth to give a response, but I closed it again without saying anything.

It was not like I couldn't answer immediately. I thought about it all the time since yesterday, so I knew exactly why I said that word. There was something I wanted to confirm before though.

"Do you really want my answer?"

Of course I knew that she wanted it, but what I meant with my question was, whether she could endure it or not. From her reaction I saw that she understood my intend, she bit on her lip. Even if she had not believed in the rumours concerning Sagami, she understood that my words might hurt her. Unlike Yukinoshita who would look down when she awaited an unpleasant response, Miura faced it head on, with a similar determination in her voice she showed during the career plan request.

"Yes."

Influenced by her resolve I even nodded approvingly with my head. If I replayed the scene later in front of the mirror, I would introduce myself as detective of the east, but the situation was too serious to do it now. [9]

"When you asked me yesterday, I remembered a few things that made me think like that."

I cleared my throat before I started the actual explanation. Miura's determination didn't waver during the short break I did on purpose. I could only hope that she was prepared for my deduction.

"At first I thought about you. Mhh... you're athletic, and uhm... I guess most would have no problems labelling you as beautiful and you're even at the top of the social school ladder." Saying good things about a girl directly to herself is a lot harder than inside your mind. After I somehow got passed the troublesome words, I felt I said the last part a bit too quick. It was too obvious that I wanted to lower the focus on a certain word. I doubted anyone could blame me for being nervous. Miura was totally unaffected though. She probably heard it often enough, even then she was aware of it herself already, she was intentionally dressing up with a gaudy fashion and put on things like make-up. At least that made it easier for me to continue. I got all worked up for nothing.

"You like to do things with others, or more concrete, with your friends. You didn't volunteer for the planning committee for the Cultural Festival, but you made sure that Yuigahama would stay with you, and you took control of the class to help Ebina too. When those two were talking about the Sports Festival Committee, you started to participate there as well."

I noticed a confusion on Miura's face. Well that was only natural, nothing I said lead to the answer I gave her yesterday. Nonetheless she stayed quiet and didn't interrupt me like she usually would.

"I asked myself what could have been your motivation. Unlike me you weren't forced to participate. You didn't like to be left out. When I tried to figure out why that desire was so strong in you, I started to think about the people around you."

My throat started to get dry, I wasn't used to hold long speeches.

At this point I could make out the first glimmer of uneasiness in her eyes.

"A lot of your schoolmates gathered to watch the tennis match." Weird that I didn't say 'our schoolmates'. Technically that would have been correct, but it was not like I would recognise a single one of them today. In short, it didn't bother me.

"When I remember back, I heard a lot of cheering for Hayama and a few for Totsuka. I can't recall any for you though. There was something else when you wrote us a request via email concerning the mood of our class. There was a huge tumult in the corridor to our classroom, but your presence alone split apart the crowd. It's like everyone is wary of you, but they also avoid to confront you."[10] There were only few who would do that, but those weren't exactly her friends, like Yukinoshita and Kawasaki.

Miura took the first bomb without flinching the slightest. I didn't exactly spell out that people were afraid of her, but I guess she understood it herself, if she didn't know in the first place. That Yuigahama used her name to scare away boys was a secret I kept to myself.[11]

Instead of being affected by it, Miura even lost the uneasiness she had before.

"That's all? I don't care about those who can't speak their mind directly and only lurk in the shadows." So she didn't care about her schoolmates, somehow this doesn't surprise me. You don't like those who do that though as well.

Didn't that description fit me too? I won't have any problem to continue in that case.

"Next I thought about your friends."

Miura's steps lost their rhythm when she heard the last word. As expected this was something she couldn't just shrug off. From this point on my words would hurt her and I apologised in my mind beforehand.

"I remember that you used that... _name..._ for me during the summer vacation first."[12] I made breaks around the word and even emphasised it with my voice. There was no way for her to miss that it I didn't like the name. She didn't care about my complaint in the slightest and thus I continued.

"But Tobe heard it first during our visit to Disney Land before Christmas. I don't want to make myself more important than I am, but if your group was really close, wouldn't you talk about Yuigahama's club from time to time?"

Miura averted her face and bit her lip again.

"Yui doesn't talk about her club activities."

That was a surprise to me. Yuigahama sure was frequently dropping random facts about you though. I decided to not mention that as well. Yuigahama might have her reasons and should say it herself one day.

I changed the topic to her other friend, so I wouldn't accidentally bring it up.

"You said something similar about Ebina during the field trip to Kyoto. That she doesn't talk about herself. She even established a relationship with you where you don't even ask her anymore."

Miura stopped to walk, fighting with herself and I followed suit. I even spared her the reminder that Ebina would end their relationship without a second thought as soon as Miura would overstep the boundary Ebina had set up. Naturally I didn't say that she called her 'Hina' just once during that talk with me in the convenience store in Kyoto. I never heard her call Ebina by the first name before nor after ever again.

I couldn't say if she remembered on her own or noticed the same things I was silently thinking about, but she her body started to tremble. Her eyes weren't set on me, it was like she looked into herself.

Since they spent so much time together, there probably had been many more of such moments.

The only thing I could say was, that she lost the fight for her composure.

She hold her own shoulders and trembled terribly. I already felt bad at this sight, before single tears started to flow down her cheeks. Now that they flowed, it was even harder to bear.

Today she wore a rather simple black coat, with buttons in the colour of her hair. When her hair was spread out on the mantle like now, it looked like the hair was part of an ornament on the mantle. Any other moment I would have found that beautiful, but in her current condition I felt like I attended a funeral. I felt guilty for doing this to her and I lamented about my inability to comfort her. Komachi was the only one I could cheer up.

Seeing her like this, I refrained from telling her that Tobe only talked to her because of his crush on Ebina. After all I didn't know if that still applied or if he got along with her now. Of course I wouldn't mention Ooka or Yamato either. Not like I could say anything about them, but most likely Miura included them already at the schoolmate talk. I knew I did.

It didn't seem like she would recover on her own, so I decided to go all the way now. It was better than starting again at another time. Like crying a lot one time was better than two times.

"About Hayama–"

"Stop." Her pleading voice contained no energy and just mentioning his name was enough to change the single tears into a stream.

Miura grabbed the front of my own coat looking down to the ground. She stabilised her stand with it, as we were in the middle of the road in the residential area and there was no bench in sight.

If Yuigahama were here, she would have embraced Miura to comfort her. That was something I couldn't do. Despite her plea not to continue, I had to. Otherwise she would imagine the worst things if I didn't gave her something concrete.

"Tobe once said that Hayama doesn't talk much about himself either and that makes it hard for him to repay the favours he felt like he would own Hayama."

I didn't know how it was between Miura and Hayama, but judging from his character and how he avoided introducing Haruno directly to her, I figured it was more or less the same.

Miura's grip on my coat got stronger and she now leaned her forehead against my chest.

I took it as confirmation that my guess was correct.

"You want to share each others secrets. You want to rely on them and be relied on. You desire an intimacy they don't give you. That is why I said you were lonely."

This had nearly robbed her of all her power she usually displayed. I was once more reminded that she had the heart of a maiden despite all these frowns during her time in school.

Her body shook stronger than before and for a moment I feared that even with this much contact, her legs might give in.

"But you know, that can always change for the better, right? You meet them frequently enough to have the opportunities for that."

These words weren't only for Miura's sake. I would have to face changes soon as well. And I definitely didn't say them for Hayama's sake, that the girl, who admired him, wouldn't give up here. On the contrary, I hated him even more. I swore to myself that I would never end up like him. I will uphold the deadline I agreed on with Haruno and not keep anyone in an endless waiting loop.

Miura's sobbing toned down. I don't know if it was because of my words or whether she just ran out on tears.

When she recognised her position to me, she let go of my coat and made a step backwards.

Without saying anything I once again offered her my handkerchief, but today she carried her own. My offer wasn't unnoticed though.

"Thank you." Her voice sounded a bit nasal, but that was only natural after crying.

After she dried her eyes and cleaned her nose, we continued our path.

We didn't continue our topic. Everything I had to say, I did. I guessed that Miura would need more time to deliberate on my words as she didn't said anything either.

Our joint path would end soon anyways, we had not much time to talk from here on.

Miura broke the silence shortly before our parting point.

"Did you call Yui yesterday?"

Luckily I did so, but the atmosphere was still a bit heavy, that's why I couldn't boast about it.

"I did, but I would rather have not done so."

She made a worried face, she probably had not expected such a reply.

Before she could get fully wrought up I gave her a brief explanation. She suffered enough already for today.

"Yuigahama was asleep during the call and her mother woke her up because of it. It didn't sound like she was mad at me, but a patient shouldn't be disturbed while resting."

Miura's expression got warm when I mentioned Yuigahama's mother. Did she have fond memories of her? Yuigahama mentioned that she had sleepovers sometimes. I guess she meant Miura at that time.

"You got me worried there for a second, but with this I can rest at ease and hear the rest from you tomorrow."

We had arrived at the place of separation and so I nodded to her in agreement.

"See you tomorrow then."

"Mhhmm goodbye.

After I heard her reply I started to move away, but after two steps I turned around again.

Maybe because of the warm expression she had showed earlier, a nagging though of mine surfaced again.

"Despite telling me how to greet properly, you never did so yourself."

"Couldn't you mention that before I said goodbye? It feels like, totally weird to do that now."

There was a frown on her face, but there were no negative emotions behind it. She wasn't angry at me, at most she was bothered. Such a shallow glare didn't affect me anymore, thus I was persistent this time.

"I can wait here till tomorrow to hear it, since I have no friends who I could meet instead."

Miura let out a long sigh and shook her head. I saw that earlier today already. Was that Miura's version of Yukinoshita's placing her hand on her temple?

"Fine. Hello Hikio." She tried to hide it, but if I wasn't completely wrong the corners of her mouth revealed a very subtle smile.

"Hello you too." Enjoying this victory I probably had a small grin on my face as well.

I should have used the mood to make her stop calling me by that name, but I didn't want to overstay my welcome. My feet started to carry me towards home. I was already a good portion away from Miura when a thought popped up.

Wait! Did I just agree on a fixed time to shop tomorrow? On a weekend?

Well, I guess even with that, today's outcome was not that bad.

* * *

"Onii-chan, what took you so long? I was really worried that you had another accident."

I took a glance at my sister who was reading a new magazine for girls. She didn't look like she worried that much. At least she could have raised her head to feign any interest, this behaviour of her was so low in points.

"Sorry, I got held up on the way back." I released myself from the coat and shoes when I replied.

"Mmhhmm, by what?" Her voice sounded bored by my upcoming answer before I even stated it. As the good brother I was, I would meet that expectation and gave her no details.

"I was stuck in a conversation."

Komachi looked up from her magazine to show me a sceptical expression.

' _Silly brother got the calendar mixed up? It wasn't April the first yet.'_ Her eyes conveyed this clear message, but her words didn't go along with it.

"Who did you talk with?" I sat down next to her still holding the shopping bag in my hand.

"Just a classmate."

' _Imposter! What have you done to my brother? He isn't able to speak to people other than me.'_ was written all over her face. I made up the last part to reduce the pain it caused me.

Luckily her spoken words were different again.

"Was it Yui-san?"

"She is still at home with recovering from her cold, I think."

"Totsuka-san?" Her next question came immediately. Not like she would have to think about it. Those were the only two from my class she knew that I was familiar with.

"Totsuka things belong into the 'Today's Totsuka' corner."[13]

That reminded me, I haven't done one recently. Komachi must be craving for more Totsuka news. It was probably fine to give her a three times longer corner than usual to make up for it.

Suddenly she leant on to me and made me forget to breath with her sparkling eyes. My sister was way too cute for this bitter world. What was I thinking again? I had no idea.

"Onii-chan, could it be that your classmates recognised your existence? All these years of hard work weren't in vain..." She sniffed like a proud mother who was about to see her child off, after raising it for many years, to finally live on its own in this world.

That image scared me in two ways. I never wanted to have this frightful experience to leave home. Also I didn't want to marry my own mother. That would be too weird, even in Chiba. [14] Thus I tried to lower her excitement.

"I guess it is fine for some people to talk with me if none of the other classmate sees it."

"I'll take what I can get. It's still a huge step forward for you."

That warm smile of her felt much better, so dazzling.

With a slap on my thigh she snapped me out of my daze.

"This should go into the kitchen." Komachi took the shopping bag from me and left the living room. The slap did not really hurt, but I still rubbed the place she hit because it caught me by surprise.

"Here kitty, kitty!"

Despite the cheerful voice from the kitchen no one in the living moved.

I looked at Kamakura with raised eyebrows to signal him that he should walk to Komachi, but he only stared back at me and remained rooted to his spot.

' _I'm Ka-kun, I don't know this kitty.'_

' _But you're the only cat in this house'_ I responded telepathically to his ignorant behaviour. How could he let her wait so long?

"I want to start the cooking lesson already, now get here gomii-chan!"[15]

I was meant? I suddenly got a bad premonition. On my way to the place of endless cat-jokes I tried my best to avoids Kamakura's _'I told you so'_ .

"I'm sorry we don't have any Neco Meshi, but we'll do something even you can eat." [16]

And so it started.

For the next hour the kitchen was filled with my sisters teases about offering me an arm pillow and gags. She only went quiet for a moment when I had unexpectedly accepted that offer with a 'Sure, it must be softer than a real pillow.' after I had resisted everything else before. [17] It just slipped out unconsciously, I didn't even try to negotiate and settle for a lap pillow afterwards.

I laid exhausted on my bed after this tirade of cat jokes that would have even gotten Catpedia-san giddy. [18] I could forgive my sister easily though. _'The new school year should start as quick as possible. I want to enter the club as well and play with Onii-chan like that too.'_ Who could stay angry after hearing such an honest wish?

I thought back to the incident that was the source of all this and blushed upon the memory.

Yukinoshita was capable of caressing me.

However, was it really necessary for her to pretend that I was a cat in order to do it? It damaged my pride as a man slightly.

I tried my best to fill my head with new thoughts before I would start to roll around on my bed from the embarrassment.

Miura was able to accept my honest answer.

I can't say I was sure that she was capable to do so beforehand. It was a pleasant surprise.

While it wasn't that bad to talk with her frequently, it was more important that it reassured me to be on the correct path. If Miura could even successfully change Hayama, it would give me a huge boost in confidence to change myself.

That would not be an easy task for her though, I was even highly sceptical of her chances. It would have been different, if I had reason to believe that Hayama liked Miura. Everything pointed against it though.

During the time the rumour about Yukinoshita and Hayama made the round, Totsuka was surprised that Miura was not the Y Hayama mentioned during the summer camp. Tobe, who was the closest boy to Hayama in school, had not considered that possible at all.[19]

I didn't care about a happy end for Hayama, I was simply rooting for the maiden's heart of Miura, that was so very much like my own.

Once again I made her a role model for me. Before it was about continuing friendships, now it was one of pursuing love.

Did I make a mistake there again? Was I creating an illusion of Miura, similar to what I did with Yukinoshita and Yuigahama before?

It wasn't as one-dimensional as back then. I couldn't come up with a single word to describe her. She was weak and yet strong-hearted, she was aware of boundaries, but had the determination to cross them. As a role model I admired her.

A new question came to my mind.

I had told her a lot of how I thought of her, but what did she think of me?

In the earlier conversation I mentioned our talk in Kyoto. Back then she had not trusted me in the slightest. By the time of the career plan request she did. After I had accepted her request she was much calmer the next days. She even paid attention not to look at me during these days. She always looked away from me with her cheeks in hand.[20]

I took a deep breath through my nose and widened my eyes in surprise.

For a moment I had the illusion of smelling her scent again.

Her perfume, that I had inhaled a lot during the time she had leaned on me, wasn't bad, but she had put on a bit too much of it. It made it kind of artificial. Just like with her make-up, if she reduced it to a more natural level, I wouldn't be able to tell left from right anymore.

To change my thoughts I raised both hands into my sight to perform a silly left and right game.

I wish I hadn't done so as it ended the light-hearted mood I had.

After a while I just stared at my hands while they closed and opened several times.

Just why couldn't I do something as simple as holding a crying girl to comfort her?

I had the knowledge that it was the normal thing to do. Everyone else would have done it and the receiving person would have understood and gladly accepted it. There would have been no misunderstanding leading to difficult situations.

Hopefully I could change this flaw of mine soon.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I was lucky that I remembered to bring tissues today. If Hikio really had a somewhat reasonable explanation for the answer he gave me yesterday, I doubted that I could hold the tears back.

Hikio had such an answer and I did cry. It was a merciless answer and it hurt a lot, but it was not wrong. Because it was right, I came to understand the pain I felt ever since he said the word 'lonely'.

It was not like I didn't know, that I wasn't as close as I wanted with my friends. It was more like, I just couldn't accept it. Everyone told their little lies to preserve the group, even to the point at which I successfully fooled myself with my own lies.

During the times I felt uneasiness by these lies, I found solace in the time we spent together. I had buried my own desire beneath these lies to just get more of this time with everyone, till the day I requested to the Service Club for the second time.  
Initially I just wanted to inquire for Hayato's career plan, but Hikio pushed me forward until there was no other way than to risk everything I had to advance to the next step. He questioned my determination and my heart had responded strongly to it. What once was buried, was now free again. But it had been contaminated by these lies. While my pure desire had awakened again, I still held back to go all the way.

Today was similar day as to back then. Hikio cut holes into my heart and removed the illusions I still clung to with every word he said. His thoughts were so on point that it had not hurt the healthy parts, but regardless of this accuracy, my heart felt already so empty when he got to his conclusion.

I broke down in despair from this feeling of emptiness in my heart. Without my illusions, there was barely anything left of it. How could I have continued like that?

I could barely stand on my feet at this point. When he showed no sign to keep me from falling, I was afraid to suffer the same fate as Sagami.

But with only a few more words he filled the holes he made in my heart with hope.

With this I could go on. Not just with pursuing the relationship I desire with Hayato, but also to deepen my friendship with Yui and Ebina.

Even if Ebina would push me back, I won't give up like last time and struggle all the way.

Yui was my best friend and aside of her love interest or the things related to the club, she told me everything. That was what I felt and the reason why I spent more time with her than any of the others. She was the reason why the hope Hikio gave me convinced me.

If Yui really liked him in a romantic way, should I try to help her out?

I opened my diary to add a dream onto today's page. No, it was more like a goal, a vision of the future I wanted to attain.

I was already in my bed when a realisation struck me. Hikio analysed me well, just how intensively did he observe us? I noticed that he looked in our direction quite often, but he mostly seemed so uninterested when he did so. Like watching a TV show one didn't really want to watch, but since everything else was even more boring, one stuck to it.

I had my moments too when I watched him, so I wasn't freaked out by it.

Not that I needed that reason to not be bothered by it. People watched me all the time, so I was used to it. I remembered that he watched me before he knew Yui sometimes, at that time I ignored those glances like all the others. Just another creep fantasising about a beautiful girl.

Today he showed not the slightest hint of being attracted to me though. Every normal boy would have abused my moment of weakness, but he did not even try to hold me in his arms to comfort me. Now it felt even sillier that I had accused him yesterday of having made a move on me. Did he love someone already? Yui perhaps? Would he tell me if I asked him?

Ever since Yui continued to talk to him after the Cultural Festival I did watch him regularly. When I got bored by the lessons I watched his back and wondered why she would do so and why only in secret. My gaze also landed on him whenever I thought about Yui's love life.

Over the course of time I came to experience some of his good sides, but it threw me only more into confusion. He was quite likable once one knew him, so why did he hide himself from everyone?

Of course he wasn't on the same level as Hayato, but if he had a friendlier look in his eyes and showed his good sides to everyone, he would probably more popular than Tobe.

Hayato and Hikio...

That was something I didn't understand either. Hayato was good to everyone, but towards Hikio he showed an unusual level of concern. It was enough to make Ebina drop her perverted fantasies about Hayato and the boys of our group in exchange for him and Hayato.

Just what was going on between them? One time Hayato even... and on another time he...

I stopped my thoughts from exploring those unpleasant memories again.

Such an emotional day should end on a good note after all.

* * *

[1] In V6 the school nurse referred to Hiratuska-sensei as Shizuka-chan, so their relationship should be good enough for a talk.

[2] Monster in Greek mythology, look into the eyes and turn into stone.

[3] Twisted dere, an invention by Komachi

[4] A common potion in to refresh the mind.

[5] He hates tomatoes

[6] The red light of a setting sun was often used in the LN to cover up blushes way too often.

[7] Last time he saw her panties, the colour was pink.

[8] Short HomeRoom

[9] A title for Shinichi Kudo from the manga Conan.

[10] Mail with the request was received in first chapter of V6.25 , the commotion in V6.5

[11] Happened in V6.5 as well

[12] in V4 before the summer camp

[13] The existence of 'Today's Totsuka' corner was revealed on Yui's birthday party, When Hachiman talked about school at home, Totsuka was mentioned so often that he made it a thing. It deeply worries Komachi.

[14] The Kousaka siblings from Ore no Imouto live in Chiba too and held a wedding ceremony. Making it acceptable in Chiba.

[15] gomi means trash, one of Komachi's nicknames for Hachiman

[16] Neco Meshi is a small food line from Neco Republic, that Humans and Cats can eat together.

[17] In a mail to the Service Club Komachi complained about Ka-kun coming into her futon and forces her to be his arm pillow, something she has not done yet for Hachiman. Happened in V7.5 4th Short Story

[18] Same chapter as above in 17, Being bothered by Yukipedia-san, Hachiman changed her nickname into Catpedia-san. (She was fine with that name)

[19] Hachiman had this thought in V10

[20] He mentioned these positive hints in V10, but instead of calling his conclusion 'trust' he escaped with a 'I wasn't exactly sure why?'

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Finally I got to a point where I could state Hachiman's thoughts on Yumiko properly. I included Yumiko's thoughts on him based on the LN as well, but those are far fewer than his thoughts on her and are harder to spot.  
Sorry for the scarce amount of diversity this chapter. The serious part couldn't be cut shorter and grew too large to add Saturday and Sunday into this chapter like originally planned.  
**

 **I hope I was clear enough in the flashback description to avoid confusion.**

 **Now for the reviews. Thank you everyone for them, like last time I will address those with issues or questions.**

 **wildarms13** the stated ship, will be the ship of this fanfic. I won't fool the readers with false advertising.

 **Guest** As stated in Author's notes of chapter 3, that Yumiko PoV can be found in this chapter as flashback.

 **fluffpenguin** Thanks for pointing out errors, I try to reduce them even after releases to provide a better reading experience for later readers. A patch for ch. 3 will come before ch. 5 will be released. Yes, Miura wanted the result, but she left it in care of 'Hayato' and did not act outside the talk with Hachiman.

 **BentShuriken** Good observation! Hachiman is a conditionally open person after all. In the summer camp he had no qualms telling his old-men smell story in front of the 'strangers' that Yumiko and Ebina were at that point. From Haruno we know, that Hachiman will respond when asked to. He has things he won't say though. Like sharing other people's secrets or saying mean things about people who are not there to defend themselves. Ch.3 highlighted this part of his character by giving the spotlight to Haruno and Yumiko. Both love to ask question, but for different reasons. If they had as much time on stage in the LN as here, it would be more apparent there too.

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan** I guess you are referring to his parents? They know how Hachiman's marks look like and that Komachi is far from his level. Hachiman studies a lot normally, he won't have issues with the normal tests. I'm pretty sure they will cut him some slack when it comes to the final exams though.

 **TheLaughingStalk** Thanks for the information, but I don't think it applies to Miura's Hikio. In V1 he was still Hikitani-kun for her, then the good experience of the match happened to her (Hayato catching her) and next time she called him Hikio in V4, before she got her first bad experience with him in the summer camp. So there is more reason to believe that it was with good intentions.

 **Guest** In the translation I have, he said once that she had a mean look in her glance (not directed at him), that doesn't describe her personality. I found crooked one time in the V11 about Yumiko, referring to her as Ashi-san (community given nickname from the way she referred to herself). It was part of a series of puns and not an honest evaluation. If you read the text before that sentence, you will see how Hachiman noticed that unlike other girls she actually did NOT hide her true relationship with Isshiki. So she is crooked by not being crooked, meaning she is the only straight one while all the others bend.

 **Flash Falco** Like you probably already noticed from your usage of smileys, the missing scenario is delivered as promised in this chapter.

 **translotusx** Thank you for your long review. His sister will continue to appear in this story of course. I wish I could say I added her two scenes in this chapter just for you, but she was the only logical choice, given the time frame that was open on this Friday. No promises on the pacing. While I like it as well, the ultimate goal is to do a finished story that won't take years to complete. I can reveal though, that at least the next three chapters will still have the same pacing.

 **If there is something you want to ask about just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 5 again.**


	5. Can this even be called touching?

I stared at my clock in disbelief when I woke up from my slumber on this Saturday morning.  
Did it stop working? The time it showed me was earlier than usual. I checked the correct time on my cellphone and was greeted by the same information. Conspiracy!

I fell back on my bed to continue my rest. That task quickly proved to be impossible as I heard activity in the kitchen.  
Stimulated by the noise, my stomach started to chime together with it. My hunger brought me on my feet before the head had any say in the decision.

I tried my best to ignore the suspicious glances of my family for my early awakening.

After a short exchange of greetings I headed for the bath, before I could receive any requests to help.

I spent the time in the bathroom till the preparation of the breakfast was completed. When the sounds of colliding dishes stopped, I came out and joined my family.

Komachi was already sitting on a chair. From the corner of my eye I looked to my father and saw that he did the same to me. Our current locations put me on a slight advantage. I took it easy and slowly approached the empty chair next to my sister. Dad sped up to a middle fast pace, which therefore I matched.

I was already celebrating in my mind when he accelerated further. Pops, that was clearly overdoing it. He looked like an Oriental stork trying to win the Olympic 100 metre race with his big steps.

Enduring his victorious gaze and seated myself opposite to Komachi.  
That wasn't much of an issue as my worry about my father's heavy breathing was slightly stronger than my concern about the loss. I wondered if all corporate slaves had such a bad condition as him.

As topping to his pitiful state, his daughter didn't hesitate to relocate herself next to me.

 _What did you do to end up on her bad side again pops? Sneaked into her room to wake her up?_

His glare in my direction had no power at all. He seemed to be really exhausted from the small exercise. My mother sat down on the chair, which Komachi had occupied just moments ago, and we began to eat breakfast together.

"Do you have any plans today?" After a while my mother started with some small talk.

Even with three other people present at the table it was clear who was the targeted receiver.  
Father was already glancing in the direction of his bed to recover from the draining week of work, while I wasn't even considered to have plans.  
Thus it was no surprise when Komachi raised her voice, but what she said astonished my mother.

"I want to buy the promised dress today."

"Did he complete his lessons already?" My mother inquired suspiciously.

"No, but I'll need the dress to keep my motivated now. Oh! And an increase of the wage!"

My sister can get pretty shameless with her demands. Of course my mother knew that too and hardened her face like she was about to enter a negotiation with an international company.

"Why would that be?"

I wondered about that as well. I couldn't remember anything that would justify her demand.

"The reward is not enough to put up with him. Not after what he has done to me..."

I was pretty sure that her whining at the end was fake and that mom knew that as well.  
However, my father instantly recharged his energy as if he had eaten a Senzu Bean.[1] If my mother had not pressed his shoulder down with one hand he would have attacked me with full force. His glare did so at least. I was glad that my mother showed hints of concern for me in such situations.  
To dissolve the mood she agreed to Komachi's unduly request without inquiring about what I had done.

"I guess we can allow that. Will you go by train?"

After being defeated by mother, pops desire to go to bed grew so much that his legs already showed in its direction.

"Mhhh, I rather want to go with you all!"

Komachi pretended to think about the question before answering with a bright smile. She was really good at dealing with people. After her unreasonable demand she nonchalantly threw a bone of sugar to my parents. Father's attention was back to the table as he turned his whole body to face my sister. _Pops, you really need to grow a backbone when it comes to Komachi._

"What do you think about this Onii-chan?"

I looked at my sister in puzzlement at this weird question.

"I won't mind an empty house for myself." My intonation nearly made a question out of this statement. This was the only answer one could have expected from me. Without doubt my sister knew that beforehand. Thus I started to wonder whether this was a trick question.

Komachi's smile crumbled to a frown.

"Onii-chan, you're coming with us."

"Oh, Okay!"

Did I finally become a full-fledged family member? I ignored my fathers unpleasant gaze which had an 'You're being manipulated way too easily' vibe to it. _I don't want to hear that from you pops._

* * *

On our way to Lalaport Tokyo Bay I was in the back seat of our car. Komachi, who was next to me, tried to start a conversation, while I ignored father's intense look on my via the rear-view mirror. _Please pay intention to the street ahead, I don't want to be involved in another accident._

"Why are you so happy today Onii-chan?"

That was a completely unexpected question directed at me.

"Come again?"

"Don't try to hide it. You agreed to come along without any refusal." She continued, unimpressed by my wide eyes.

"How could I refuse my sister if she asked me like she was cute or something?"

Komachi ignored my unemotional response and asked another question.

"Why did you hum then on your way to the bathroom?"

Was I really humming today?

"It's not like I never do that." Although I mostly only hum while riding my bike, it wasn't completely unprecedented for me to do that at home as well.  
My sister was not convinced and proceeded with her investigation..

"You normally don't get out of bed before breakfast is ready."

"I probably woke up from the noise and then I got hungry." What was with all these questions?

"You normally just stay in bed because you don't want to help with preparing the breakfast, yet you stood up today."

"I didn't help today either though." The way I said it made it seem like it was an achievement.

We eyed each other suspiciously for several seconds.

"Your mood is definitely better than normal."

"Shouldn't I know if that was the case?"

With a grunt Komachi averted her displeased face to look out of the window. Did she know me better than I do?  
There was no reason for me to act any different, was there?

I continued to watch my sister a little longer, as if that could reveal to me what she believed to have seen inside me. After a three minutes I just shrugged my shoulders and turned to do as she did. Through the window I could see the monstrosity of a mall getting closer.

Inside the mall there was not much for me and father to do. We mainly stood in some distance to the females of the Hikigaya household as they browsed through the clothes.

My father used this chance to ask me about what I had done to Komachi. Perhaps that was just him trying to stay awake. I started to feel some pity for him.  
I simply answered that I had copied her too well and that she had not liked that. For my own safety I didn't reveal any details. He didn't ask for those either and looked like he was about to pass out from the lack of sleep.  
Since he couldn't punish me for doing things that Komachi did as well and had to do something to stay awake, my father began to talk about another one of his stories.

This time he warned me about beautiful women advertising shady subscriptions.

He told me how he got scammed with two free DVD's as bait and how the woman assured him, that if he cancelled the subscription early enough, he wouldn't have to pay a single Yen.  
To his question why she revealed such a procedure to him, she had answered that she found him cute and that she would get paid by the amount of subscriptions she collected, not by how those turned out.

Of course it didn't play out as simple as she had described. My father was lucky that this happened before he met my mother. She always was extremely angry when he got scammed and if a woman was the cause.

With all his warnings about women and Komachi's scary stories about the female society, it was only natural that I still had no girlfriend, unlike a certain aspiring author for light novels.

That thought made me remember what would happen on Monday. Yuigahama would return and I needed to get their agreement for the dating plan I came up with Haruno.

Since my father was apparently in a talkative mood, I had asked him something that had been on my mind for a while.

If he had so many bad experience with women, how was he able to get together with mom?

The answer could be useful to me, after all my own experience with women weren't that great either.

His response was quite the letdown. She was the only woman who did not try to fool him.

My father probably felt that his answer wasn't pleasing me and he added that he was unable to give up even in the face of a bitter life's hardships. If one gave up, victory belonged to the enslaving society completely. It was best to fight the futile battle at least till one acquired a small oasis of happiness.

I was still unsatisfied by the lack of something special about his view on my mother back then. Of course I didn't expect a romantic story from this man, though I still had hoped for _something_.

My last question to him on this matter was, whether he would have given up on mother if she had fooled him like everyone else did. In a dreamy voice, that I had not heard from him in a long time, he answered, that he would have given her as many chances as it needed to make her his wife.

We got home in the early afternoon and Komachi's wardrobe now contained one more dress.  
I studied till it was time to go the grocery store.

* * *

Because we drove with the car to the mall, I had not realised how cold it was today. It was so cold that I checked the weather app on my cellphone for information. According to it, it was the coldest day of the season so far. Like a dying beast, winter demonstrated its full force one last time before the cold front would pass by completely. I was so glad when I reached the super market. Compared to outside this felt like a sauna, but for the sake of the food I knew it was a false impression.

I looked around for Miura, but unsurprisingly I didn't see her. Like with any other appointment I aimed to arrive a little earlier. Today I even got here faster than planned. My subconscious must have made me walk quicker to reach refuge here from the icy weather as fast as possible.

I went through my shopping list without hurry and still had some time to spare. My usual time of arrival was still a few minutes ahead. Thus I decided to wait at the fruit section. Miura spent most of her time there after all and the entrance wasn't that far away from it.

Why I was only late when it came to school? Well, whatever the reason was, the mere fact that it only applied to school had to be kept secret from Hiratsuka-sensei.

"Can I help you Sir?"

The unnoticed approach by one of the staff caught me off guard. I might have jumped a little too.

"N-no, I'm just waiting for someone." As to proof that I was a normal customer and not some creep, I showed her the food I had already picked up.

After the worker had left me alone, I checked with my cellphone how long I stood here already. Eight minutes, no wonder that she started to get suspicious at an unmoving customer. It didn't seem like she trusted my explanation as I felt her occasional glances on me.

Two minutes later, Miura had entered the grocery store.

Despite my long waiting time, she was within our usual time frame. I was glad that her difference to Isshiki showed even in that department.

Before the worker lost her patience with me and called the police, I decided to be approach Miura actively and greeted her.

"Hello."

She immediately noticed the many goods I carried around and prompted me a question.

"Did you wait long?"

"Hello." Instead of answering her I repeated my greeting.

The veil of confusion on her face lifted within two seconds as she realised what I was up to.

"Geez, hello."

In her typical manner she shook her head while making up her faux pas.

With that out of the way I could answer her properly.

"Don't mind it, I got here earlier than expected. That's all."

That wasn't really wrong, even if I left out a small detail.

Since I was already done with my shopping, and going back to waiting after paying the register a visit would just attract more suspicion, I accompanied Miura today.

She didn't seem to mind it, to my slight surprise. And even to the bigger surprise of the staff that still looked at me, this time with widened eyes. Didn't she have anything else to do?

I sent her an unpleasant glance with my proof walking next to me, which made her snap out of her shock. Suddenly she got really busy huh?

In regards to shopping here, Miura was like me. She worked through her list, that she had received, without questioning it. Thus she didn't ask me anything either, like which of the fish would be the best to pick.

So the Valentine event didn't trigger an urge within her to become an aspiring cook.

I was surprised that I knew the answer of how to check a fish's quality from the lessons with my sister already. It made me a bit sad, that I couldn't boast with my newly acquired knowledge.

Everything proceeded smoothly. There was just one thing off today. Miura's pace seemed much slower than usual.

I was about to ask her if something was wrong, but the question vanished from my mind as she picked up a package of miso peas.

Damn, I was so jealous.

"You like them?"

As if she had read my mind, she asked me. My glance might have been obvious, so in reality it was probably not hard to guess.

"Doesn't that apply to everyone from Chiba?"

If I could, I wanted to spare me the shame to admit that our household didn't buy them though.

"Why don't you never pick them up then?"

Of course she would press on the matter and I could only raise the white flag. How did she even knew that?

"We don't have many guests visiting us at home, so snacks are a rare sight on the shopping list."

"Oh, I see." Miura murmured in response which made me raise an eyebrow.

What did she see from that? Did she think that my whole family consisted of loners based on me as example? That seemed pretty rude, but since I didn't know whether I could really deny that thought, I let it slide. Komachi certainly had friends, even if she spend more time at home than other girls. As for my parents, I barely saw them to make an educated guess.

Since both were working a long time during the week, they mostly spent the weekends either with recovering or doting on Komachi.

This always repeating procedure gave birth to the system of two full days of weekly holidays in the Hikigaya household.  
One could only be thankful for that. I was it at least.

Miura kept dragging her shopping on, but at some point we did reach the register and left the supermarket.

* * *

As soon as the door opened I was frozen into a statue. Because of the long time I had waited for Miura I completely forgot just how cold it was today. Thus I didn't even find it odd when I saw her wearing the usual attire. This woman was crazy to still walk with only a skirt on to cover her legs.

Unlike me, Miura wasn't rooted at her place for even a split of a second. Instead she accelerated quickly as if to make up for her slow pace inside the store.

"Oi, wait for me!"

Because of all those simultaneous impressions I accidentally let out my voice, before I jogged to her side again. Even with my normally quick pace I would have no chance to catch up if I just walked.

Along the way I realised that she wanted to warm up inside the grocery store, which was the reason for dragging things on.

At the red traffic light we came to a halt.

"That is your limit huh? I would have to question your humanity if it weren't the case though."

I gave into my sudden urge to tease her a bit.

She shot me a glare as if I was the one to be out of his mind.

"Ha? This much is nothing."

"You know, it would have been more convincing if your eyes didn't show that much hostility." A person who didn't care, wouldn't get so worked up after all.

Her mouth opened as she wanted to deny my claim further, but the words were stuck in her throat. The only thing that came out, was a loud 'achoo'.

After we had looked at each other with widened eyes for a few seconds, she turned around.

So she was as embarrassed as I was. I couldn't tell from the colour of her cheeks, because they had been red from the cold beforehand.  
Why was I embarrassed though? I should have used that occasion for a good laugh. Did I feel that much empathy with Miura to replicated her emotions?

Since she didn't look at me to accept my handkerchief I had no choice but to push it directly into her hand. Her shoulders jumped a bit, but since this wasn't unusual by now, she accepted it quickly.

At this moment the traffic light switched and we safely proceeded to cross the street.

I waited till she had finished cleaning her nose and extended my hand to receive my handkerchief back. When she noticed my hand, Miura looked at me with a disgusted face.

Huh? Did I miss something? I remembered clearly to have washed my hands today. What's with this overreaction?  
A lot of questions filled my mind but the first one to voice one was Miura.

"Gross. Are you some kind of creep after all? Gross."

Was it really necessary to say gross twice?

"What are you talking about? If I wanted to get sick to stay at home I would use a simpler method. Not that I want though. Staying home without being able to read or play is not worth the discomfort." I should know, I tried it when I couldn't bear middle school any longer.

Visibly surprised by my answer she only brought forth a small murmuring.

"That's not what I..."

 _Gross. Did she thought I wanted to preserve her body fluids? What's with that imagination? Gross._

"You won't be the one doing the laundry, right? Something inconspicuous as a foreign handkerchief would probably just get overlooked by an other person. Before it gets stored away and is lost, I'll just do it myself." And by myself I meant Komachi or my mother.

In my experience I never got the things back which I lent. Even inside my own family it became Komachi's property if I wasn't careful.

"If you insist."

Still a bit reluctant, she folded the handkerchief so that nothing wet was on the outside and handed it over to me. From the way she talked and acted, I couldn't deduce that I was actually doing her a favour by relieving her from the task of washing it. If that was the case, I'll never do her a favour ever again.

At that moment we reached the residential area and I noticed that her pace was much slower than before. Something I had never seen before and thought to be impossible was displaying right within my sight. Miura shivered from the cold. Gasp.

Since she had just one free hand, the attempt to warm herself with it looked rather pathetic.

She basically only had her arm covering the stomach while the hand rubbed the other arm quickly. The visible breath looked like an old communication method and probably was a cry for help. Even the previously red cheeks paled from the non-ending cold and coloured them pink.

Tears would freeze quickly and leave behind a trail of ice. If this were a play in a theatre I would have shouted 'Is there no one to save her?'. Hoping for such a damsel in distress to get happy end would be mere foolery. After abandoning all hope I would simply faint.

My imagination ran wild and except for the free arm, everything was an exaggeration on my part, but it still was sad enough to cramp my heart.

Since there was no one else here, not even to speak of a shining hero, I tossed away my earlier resolve to not help her anymore and tugged away her shopping bag.

It wasn't much that I could do. To offer my coat would be suicidal and not very helpful either. Her coat looked warmer than mine and really cuddly. But at least she now had two free arms to keep herself warm.

Surprised at my thievery she looked at me in wonder. I didn't know whether her free arm automatically started to move firrst or if she guessed my intent correctly, but she refrained from inquiring me about my action.

"Thanks." Instead she had thanked me.

What was that? It suddenly felt considerably warmer than before. A strange weather anomaly was taking place. Watching Miura's hands rubbing quicker than ever it seemed to only surround myself.

Her ways of warming herself were doomed to fail from the start. The problem wasn't her torso as it was covered by her coat, but her bare legs.

Undoubtedly she had realised that from the beginning. Her pride didn't allow to act upon it though. She was someone who intentionally wore a skirt regardless of the gruesome weather. The weather didn't care about her pride at all and after an especially chilly breeze, she capitulated. If people saw her now, they hardly would be able to feel pity for her homemade misery or just laugh evilly.

Since I knew her fairly well by now that didn't apply to me. I felt uncomfortable seeing her like this. Especially at the sight of her rubbing her thighs.

The anomaly that only affected me, increased in its potency by a thousand times.

No matter how much I tried, my eyes kept going back to watch. It was a miracle that I kept my thoughts long enough together to form an idea.

"Here, tie it around. It's not much but it should help a bit."

I took of my scarf and extended it with one hands towards her legs. Her green eyes looked at me as if I had demanded that she jumped off a cliff though.

"No way, that would look, like, totally mortifying. That's totally impossible."

Miss Totally was totally against the idea huh? Her argument was really weak. Not like her fiddling with the legs gave away a Queen-like aura anymore. All it caused was to make my heart skip a beat whenever hands partially vanished under the skirt and it moved upwards from it. That she managed to voice her refusal without stuttering despite her teeth chattering was really impressive though.

"There was no one here on normal days, I doubt we will encounter someone during this weather. Also it would take more than this to turn you into something unsightly. Heck, you even may set a new trend or something."

I wondered what was more convincing to her, my voice or the cold. Regardless of the reason she wrapped my scarf around her left leg and since it seemed to have an effect, she did the same thing with her own scarf for her right leg.

So she was even wearing a scarf today? I didn't even notice as it had the same colour as the oversized collar of the coat. She wore the snow-white coat today.

Thanks to this improvised treatment the control of my eyes was mine again. Not only that, but Miura felt comfortable enough to have a proper conversation now.

"Was Yui happy about your call?"

The announced continuation from yesterday?

"Who knows, if someone woke me up with a call I wouldn't be happy. Nonetheless she still thanked me for it."

As I tried to remember the phone call from Thursday, my right side got nudged by something pointy. _Oh no, I'm getting attacked! Miura help me!_ Unfortunately I couldn't expect help from her as it turned out that she had been the perpetrator. Why would I even ask a girl for help in such a situation?

I rubbed my side that got hit by her elbow and looked at her face for a reason.

A smile greeted me and I couldn't find a single trace of an ill intention. Since I couldn't make out any major damage I decided to let it slide. But since when had physical contact been allowed?

"That means she was happy, silly!"

"Is that some kind of encoded girl language? Ah, so it's similar to '...Hmm, really?' which means agreement?" [2]

I couldn't help myself but to snicker at my remark, Miura's face revealed that she didn't understand. Well it was quite a while ago and very short phrase. I had looked already ahead, when my side screamed out in pain again. This time the blow was a bit sharper than the first one.

"That was just Yui being premature. I really had not made up my mind yet."

Somehow I couldn't believe her when the second half was spoken so quietly. Averting her face to hide the embarrassment didn't support her statement either.

"What else was said?"

That's Miura for you, she quickly recovered from the moment of weakness and changed back to the offensive.

"Mhhh, I apologised to her and her mother for taking that long to call."

Now her eyes blinked in surprise.

"Ha? So you _can_ behave properly if you want to." I was a bit offended at the way she emphasised that word, but since it was only because of her pressuring me to do the call, that I did it at all, I had no right to talk back here.

"But why also to her mother?"

"She was the one who picked up the call. Quite the playful mother Yuigahama has. At least I had this impression when I had met her the first time. During this phone call it was on an entirely different level though. She even tried to fool me into coming over and asked embarrassing questions... Oh, you don't like her?"

I noticed how Miura's expression got very gloomy when I described the actions of Yuigahama's mother.

"Mhh? No, I really like her. She is, like, very caring and nice."

"Then what–"

"Anyway, can you help me tomorrow before we go shopping?"

I was cut off in the middle of my question and was prompted with a request. That came so suddenly that I forgot to immediately decline.

"Are you sure that you want to ask me?" Wasn't that something a certain good guy was there for?

"I asked Hayato, but he will have to run errands for his family. And I don't want to endanger Yui's return to school."

I guess she omitted a few persons. There was no way I was really the third person to ask.

"Or are you busy tomorrow?"

Since I was her last option and I could do my only duty directly after it, I had no reason to deny her plea.

"While I have a full schedule tomorrow, I'm flexible enough to squeeze it in."

"Oh, what are you doing?"

"Resting." I replied to her question with a straight face.

Something which Miura had not after hearing the answer. To be exact she looked like I said something really dumb.

"Ha?" If I were capable of the girl language that I would have heard something along the lines of 'Can you repeat that?'. Thus I did just that.

"Resting is a serious task at my home which fills up the whole weekend." Just when I was about to explain the two weekly holiday system of the Hikigaya household to her, she took the initiative once again.

"Then let's meet at three in front of PARCO."

So it was decided just like that, my confirmation wasn't even needed. Not that I cared about a particular time and I had agreed to the act of helping before.  
The next thing Miura did was to unwrap my scarf from her thigh and gave it back to me.

Oh, we were already at our usual parting spot. Before I took it back I asked.

"You're going to be fine?"

"Yes, it's not far anymore. Thank you again."

I took the scarf back.

"See you tomorrow then,"

"Mhhm, Goodbye."

And with that I was on my way. I wrapped the scarf around my neck and my heart had stopped in an instant. Luckily my feet didn't, so she shouldn't have noticed anything. Her warmth was of course still attached to the scarf. I had not thought about that, but it was only logical.

When I was sure to be outside of her sight I pulled the scarf over my mouth. I really didn't it because of a perverted moment, it was just so comfortably warm on this cold day. My nose picked up a different kind of scent than that of her hair from it, and I lost the ability to think clearly. For no reason I even said it out loud.

"So warm."

At home I got another cooking lesson from Komachi. This time with mom overseeing us. Most likely she wanted to check if her investment was worth it. So my sister and I didn't fool around today. After that I could turn my attention back to the main duty, resting.

I was so busy with resting that I fell asleep at some point.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

My diary was still on the table, untouched. Ever since parting with Hikio I couldn't get my act together. When I noticed _it_ , I just wanted to hide in a hole. If I only had thought of _that_ before, I wouldn't have asked him to come along tomorrow. I just wanted someone to accompany me after all. Every time I thought about _it_ my cheeks were completely red because of the embarrassing shame.

When I had removed my own scarf from the other leg and wrapped it around my neck, I felt _it_. My own body heat.

Hikio's scarf should have the same warmth conserved. How could I meet him with a straight face after this?

When I overcame the first shock, I had numerous feelings flooding me. Among those feelings, other than shame, I had also felt like I was tricked. But I couldn't blame him for long. It was just a self-protective reflex. It was ridiculous and unfair. Not only had he often proved not to have those intentions towards me, but also did everything just to help me. Three times, only counting today.

If someone was to blame it should be me. If I only weren't that stubborn when it came to pants, nothing weird would have happened today.

I took a deep breath and finally started to put my thoughts into my diary.

When I came to the talk about the phone call to Yui my mood turned sad again.

Yui's mother seemed to be fond of Hikio. They had met already. I have seen Hayato's mother just once, when his parents drove us to the summer camp. She had not socialised much with us and remained on a formal level. That was a very disheartening experience for me, but was also quite some time ago. Did he talk about me afterwards to her? If he did, does she like me now?

I was jealous of Hikio and I knew that this thought would stay with me the whole evening.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

I lazed around not doing a single thing on this Sunday morning. Everything was as it should be. I had not stood up till breakfast was prepared, filled my stomach and then spent time in the bathroom. The length of my time spend in this room was the only out of the ordinary thing of this morning. Because of my filled stomach I just wanted to rest on my bed. I wasn't even motivated to hold my cellphone to read an ebook. If it weren't for my shopping duty and the request by Miura, I doubted I would have lifted a single finger today.

I was convinced that the other people of the Hikigaya household were respecting the system of the two weekly holidays just as much as I did.

Thus time passed peacefully without any disturbance and I dozed off.

My cellphone woke me up. It made noises all of a sudden. I was sure that the phone was just as surprised and annoyed by that as me. I grabbed it and saw that the displayed time showed that it was half an hour before noon. Way too early to disturb me. That applied to any time actually. Next thing I checked was my inbox, to find out what was the cause for this unpleasant event. There was a new message from Hiratsuka-sensei. I wanted to place the phone back on my desk again, but then I remembered her behaviour in such cases. She would either spam me with messages or will send extremely long mails filled with a vibe of sadness because she had been ignored. I didn't want any of that to happen and prepared myself to give a short 'aha' reply.

I opened her mail and nearly dropped my cellphone.

'It's super bad! (´;ω;｀) Meet me at the bus rotary near the station in 30 minutes.'

My immediate reply with an inquiry of what was wrong was ignored.

I realized that I had some time left, before I had to head out to arrive at the mentioned time, and I finally calmed down. How serious should I take it and what could she have meant?

The calmer I got the less I wanted to go, but I had no choice anymore. In my earlier panic I had revealed that I received and read her message. I cursed myself for doing such a beginner mistake for a loner. Reluctantly I changed into outdoor clothes and washed away the tiredness from my face. I saw Komachi on the sofa and approached her.

"Can you give me the shopping list for later? I don't know if I can come back here before I have to go shopping."

My sister's expression of disbelief made way for a happy smile once she noticed that I changed my clothes.

"Oh, where are you going? Perhaps on a date?"

I'm sorry to continuously burst your bubbles about a good future for your onii-chan.

"No, I was just stupid enough to reply to a message that asked for my help."

Normally I wouldn't have a problem to tell her when Hiratsuka-sensei mailed me, but what if it had to do with Komachi's entry exam? I wanted to spare her any troubling thoughts.

The other most likely possibility was, that she wanted to talk about my supplementary lessons and the make-up tests. It would be rather unusual to do that on a Sunday though. That was why I feared it would be because of my sister.

Unsatisfied at the lack of development in my love life she quickly made a list for me and shoo'd me away with her hand, which collapsed back on the sofa three seconds later, like the rest of her body did beforehand.

I opened the door and was on my way to my destination. Luckily the weather wasn't as cold as yesterday. It was by no means warm, but the cold front really was gone. The weather app had not lied.

* * *

I quickly found Hiratsuka-sensei's outstanding car and knocked on the roof.

She motioned me to get in and so I did. I opened the door and noticed that the heater was working. That was probably the reason why she had not left the car. In order not to let the heat escape out of the car I quickly seated myself next to her and closed the door.

"Good morning Hikigaya!"

Her greeting was quite cheerful when I compared it to the message she had sent me earlier.

"Good _day_ Hiratsuka-sensei."

I emphasised the day to remind her on the actual time of the day. She couldn't have been asleep just till before she sent that mail, could she? Although I really had no right to judge her if that was the case.

She ignored me wonderfully and the car started to move. While I eyed her rather simple attire I came to a realisation.

"If you were going to drive me around anyway, why didn't you pick me up directly from home? It's still quite cold outside and really bothersome to walk unnecessarily."

Upon my question her eyes were looking at the roof of the car and she let out a stammering laugh.

"Ha, Hahaha, ha."

 _Hey keep your eyes on the street! That's dangerous!_

"Well, your parents are at home on a Sunday right?"

The conversation went into a weird direction.

"Don't you have to deal with parents regularly? Do you have something against mine?" I asked.

"No, that's not it. It would be just too embarrassing to ring the doorbell and ask the son of the household out to a romantic dinner." Her cheeks were blushing at her own wording.

"Aha."

Wait? What?!

* * *

I was glad that Hiratsuka-sensei didn't have bad news for Komachi. It didn't mean that she had good news either. The old geezers were the ones to look through the entry exams. They probably wanted to sort out all the troublesome students and give them the to the young teachers. Was that how I ended up with Hiratuska-sensei? She made it clear though that she wouldn't have told me even if she was involved in the process. She was not allowed to give this information, not even to brothers. No bad news, were good news. But that didn't mean I was comfortable with this current situation either.

Hiratsuka-sensei and I were lining up to enter a ramen shop. It was its opening day and only couples were allowed to enter. Originally it was an event planned for Valentine's day, but they had some troubles and had to delay the opening of the new shop. The owner must be a stubborn person to hold the event belated, as ramen shops weren't really the place to go for couples. Hiratsuka-sensei ranted about it on the way here.

As a free service I got another speech how it was unacceptable to wait till tomorrow, after I thoughtlessly had suggested that. People with obsessions were truly scary.

Looking at the line in which I stood, I had to agree with her. It wasn't really long and probably half of the people pretended just to be a couple. They were either overly acting to be lovey-dovey or not at all. According to their similar appearances and the displease expressions, especially on the girls' faces, I guessed that quite a few siblings were dragged here.

Despite the relatively short line, it took ages to do just one step forward.

Still, if Hiratsuka-sensei just waited long enough, she would probably get in without me. After all these fake couples were done with their meal.

I thought back to the reason I was even here and decided to ask Hiratsuka-sensei about it.

"Hir–"

A quick jab into my side made me swallow my words. She was really adamant about it, wasn't she?

"Sh-shizuka, was that message really necessary?" I just wanted to die out of embarrassment when I called my teacher with her first name.

"To get you out of the house _Hachiman_? I don't think any less would do." She was having way too much fun with teasing me.

"Like I said, I couldn't just ring your doorbell. I had planned to rely on your sister for help, but when I was about to send her a message I had a seriously bad premonition. It felt like I wouldn't see through this day without getting married. I mean, she already made me wear a wedding dress for you. That's just wrong before your graduation."

So it would be fine afterwards? Now I had a bad feeling of entering the wrong route. Also didn't she mix up a few details there? It was for a local magazin, remember?

"Komachi is very into that matchmaking stuff recently."

"It's good that you have someone who supports you in that way, otherwise you would be stuck forever in the way you are."

Certainly I couldn't deny my need for dependability on others in that area. I even consulted my father about it yesterday. My life was really off-track currently.

"It's all fun and cute till she comes to the part where I get kicked out of the house."

Hiratsuka-sensei made a wry smile when she heard that.

"Well, that's part of the deal with growing up."

"No business would agree to such a deal with that many drawbacks."

I had a hunch that working was included in the deal as well.

"Don't be like that _Hachiman_!" Her cheerful voice made me wonder why no one had married her yet. Seriously, was the cook an artist or a snail? I wanted to escape the awfully close teacher as quick as possible.

That wish wasn't granted of course. Thus Hiratsuka-sensei picked up a new topic.

"You helped Isshiki, didn't you?"

I had an urge to run towards home, but an arm wrapped itself around my neck. It might have looked sweet from the outside, but there was some pressure applied on me. If someone from school saw that, we would definitely be in trouble.

"I didn't do much though. Towards the end she was able to do most of it all by herself." That much was true. I merely kept her from getting to informal.

"Do you think you could fool me?"

"No, that's why admitted it."

She looked displeased with my answer. It didn't fit with what she wanted to say, thus after a short break, she simply ignored it.

"Of course I would recognise after all our time together."

Some people had turned around to look at us, but I couldn't expect any help from them. Some girls giggled just to turn back around. They completely misunderstood the situation.

"Hira–" More force was applied to my neck. "Sh-shizuka! Please let go of me, what if someone sees us?"

Hiratsuka-sensei became aware of how we would look for others. It was only we two who knew about the pressure on my neck. Even she knew that society wouldn't accept it if people at school learned about it.

"You're so shy _Hachiman_."

With a last tease, she let go of me.

"I don't really mind that you helped her. Especially if what you claim is true, that she was able to do it herself at the end. It just proves that you would make a good teacher."

Not that again.

"Just some advice. First, don't make it too good if you don't want to be caught."

"I knew that you would recognise my participation the instant I decided to help her. So I just focused on doing it well." Isshiki's request came at a good time after all. When being alone with Yukinoshita was still awkward.

Her aura got pitch-black with the next sentence.

"Second, why didn't you prevent those hearts?"

I gulped.

"I tried my best to do so, but she can be really stubborn about those things _Shizuka-chan._ " I tilted my head for extra-cuteness, but it didn't save me from another embrace around my neck.

Did I just hear something snapping something in my body?

After we waited for a while longer and passed the couple-check without being looked at, Hiratsuka-sensei seemed to finally have lost her interest in pretending to be one.

I paid for the meal ticket from the ticket machine, despite Hiratsuka-sensei's insistence to treat me, and ordered my usual hari-gane while she had kona-otashi.[3]

She lined up all the toppings she needed and when the food was served, we both placed our hands together.

""Thank you for the food.""

I suddenly got stuck. A wave of nostalgia came over me as I remembered my first visit of a ramen shop with my teacher.

"What is it Hikigaya?"

Hiratsuka-sensei must have noticed my hesitation.

"I'm suddenly not sure what to add to it. I wonder if I should try salt or soy sauce ramen..."[4]

She looked at me in surprise first, but she caught on quickly.

"Just add what you like most. It's a new shop after all."

Since we both were hungry, we started to eat.

After a while she began to talk with me again.

"It's okay to start with what you're most comfortable with. If you're fine with the basics you can experiment later on."

Looked like she wanted to explain her earlier reasoning. However, it seemed like she wasn't talking about the food anymore. Thus I won't either.

"How do I know when to do the next step sensei?"

Her eyes had a hint of pity in them.

"Unfortunately, you can't think it through this time. You'll have to trust your own feelings for that. But you can still think to the point whether there is a step you want to take or not. When you come across the uneasiness again. So be sure to always remember that feeling."

"That's a lot harder than the last advise you gave me."

I hated it when I couldn't predict the outcome clearly and my mood got a bit gloomy.

"I'm sorry. With the way you have changed though, I'm certain that you can do it."

A weight was added on my head. I looked at Hiratsuka-sensei and her hand stroke though my hair. I had an urge to tell her what awaited me tomorrow and I gave into to.

"I won't deny the possibility of receiving the kindness of a girl anymore. I'll inform the club members tomorrow if Yuigahama returns to school."

Her hand had stopped as well as every other function of her body. I saw how that must have been a huge surprise for her. After all she was the one who knew me best outside of my family.

"That doesn't sound like you just thought it up."

"You're right. At first that development was forced onto me, but I had a talk with Haruno-san recently. Thanks to that I could shape it into something I can call my own way."

I could clearly see how that name rang an alarm inside her head and she gave me a dubious look.

"Haruno, huh?"

I told her everything from my last meeting with Haruno. As expected she got worked up quite a bit before I got to the part with the deadline. I even went as far to promise her truthfully, multiple times, that I would never become a gigolo myself. Thanks to the not so distant time limit she was able to accept my plan. Her mood did not recover to the cheerful teacher she was before entering the ramen shop though.

"Be sure to honour your promise. I won't forgive you if you start to play with their feelings."

"Of course, I have no intention to die from your wrath after all. Komachi will cry if that happens. Naturally I can't allow that."

After a long sigh of roughly ten seconds she had calmed down some more.

"How you reached your conclusion is not cute at all. Same goes for your plan as well. Nonetheless, it is still a big step forward for you. I'll watch you closely."

So I have a stalker now? I didn't mind if she was guiding me. Not counting Komachi, Hiratsuka-sensei was probably the person who looked after me the most. Kind of sad that she was even ahead of my parents.

"Please do so."

I waited a moment before I asked my next question.

"Assuming both would want to go out with me, there'll be someone who is hurt in the end, won't there?"

She flinched upon the question.

"I'm afraid everyone will be hurt. Even the person who will chose, especially if he is as kind as you."

"There is no way around that?"

"That's what it means to take responsibility."

As if her words weren't heavy enough, she placed her hand on my should for even more weight. I did not complain though. Her eyes were looking at something distant, and her mouth was formed into an upside down V. It most likely was an unwelcome memory triggered by the word 'gigolo'. Since I had spoken that word, there had been no smile on her face.

After I would have graduated I wanted to ask her about the gigolo-experience she went through.

At the moment I could only endure the sad state she was in, as she continued to eat with a sour expression. That was something I had to take responsibility for as well.

I hated to see her like this.

We had been silent since that moment and were currently on the way back to her car.

When it came into view I decided to break the silence. Otherwise she would remain like this for the whole day.

"I wonder how we passed as a couple concerning the age gap–"

Ouch! That hurt. When in a bad mood, she didn't hold back at all.

I had trouble to stay conscious. Heck, was there smoke coming from my stomach and her hand?

"Can't you read the mood?! Or did you become a masochist?" She growled at the kneeling me from above.

"Certainly not. But if it is that what it takes to pull out your energetic side, taking one or two bullets of yours is a small price to pay. I rather watch you like this than seeing you deeply saddened as before. The more so because I feel at fault here."

Hiratsuka-sensei raised an eyebrow and made a devilish grin. She came even closer to me and rubbed her smoking fist with her other hand.

"So you would take two for me? In that case I have one more shot to imprint on your body."

Crap, that's what you get for playing the nice guy.

Her fist passed my cheek so close that I could feel warmth on it. I needed a second to realise that the warmth came directly from her hand that held my cheek.

Hiratsuka-sensei squatted down in front of me and gave me a smile that could charm any man, while her thumb started to caress my cheek.

"I hope you can convey that kindness of yours properly to the other girls as well."

I knew she was beautiful. That so many in the ramen shop kept glancing at her despite being in a simple attire was not needed to confirm that. It only proved that a lot of their girlfriends were indeed fakes.

This smile of her was irresistible and I was so close to gladly enter the teacher-route.

I probably blushed a lot already while I looked for an emergency escape.

"You mean girls of my age?–AARGHHH?!"

She pinched my cheek without losing her smile. Thanks to that it wasn't as painful as I exclaimed.

"Sorry for ruining your meal." I said.

She patted the cheek softly that she just had pinched.

"Then we'll just have to go again some other time, _Hachiman_."

With a chuckle she stood up and headed for her car.

At least she was cheerful again, but she had too much fun teasing me.

After I had looked at my watch I denied her offer to drive me home. Since I had the shopping list from Komachi there was no need for that. I could just go to PARCO directly even if I arrived a bit too early. Thus we parted at the car park near the ramen shop.

* * *

I spent most of the hour I was early inside a bookstore. Then I looked for a good waiting spot not too close to the entrance. 14:45 said the digital clock on my cellphone. I leaned against the wall with my back and head, and looked at the clear sky. I breathed out and relaxed. Sometimes birds entered my vision, but most of the time there was nothing to look at, not even clouds. My mind got gradually as empty as the sky I watched. The noise of the busy people passing me faded into the background. It somewhat resembled the sound of the ocean. The sound in- and decreased like waves hitting the shore. I didn't notice how the time passed.

A particular strong wave ended this state of mine.

I set my gaze down from the sky on to a familiar face with piercing green eyes and its corners of the mouth were pointing towards the ground.

Did something happen to her to put her in such a bad mood?

"Oh, hello Miura."

"Geez finally. I've been calling your name a few times already."

Did my brain filtered out the unwanted nicknames on its own? I didn't know when I got this new skill.

"Sorry, I kind of spaced out."

"I started to think that you were ignoring me on purpose. Did you have to wait that long?"

Good question, I took out my cellphone and saw that it was 15:02. She was on time again, thus she knew that it wouldn't have been her fault.

"I got here too early thanks to... Hiratsuka-sensei." Good save! I nearly called my teacher by the first name again. I can't let that slip out.

"On a Sunday? Do you take private lessons with her?"

Hiratsuka-sensei taught Japanese. There was no way I needed extra lessons with her. But Miura probably didn't know that this was my forte. Every student got the results individually and in secret.

"No, she just wanted me to help her out."

Remembering the parting with my teacher triggered a phantom pain on my cheek to the point I had to caress it.

"Is something wrong?" Miura was as observant as ever and didn't miss my odd behaviour.

"Not really." Upon my empty reply her mood took another turn for the worse. She turned around to lead the way with a deeply annoyed expression.

"Thinking back on it reminded me how she pinched me there."

Miura spun around with wide eyes and an open mouth to ask me something, but I was quicker.

"What do you want me to help you with anyway?"

I walked by my pouting classmate towards the entrance to PARCO. A pouting Miura looked quite cute with her puffed cheeks. Teasing her was going to be a fun new game.

"I'm looking for some new clothes." Somehow she got that out through her pressed lips.

While she replied to my question, I knew as much as before. What she said didn't leave me with any task, did it?  
Thus I had stopped to look at her dumbfounded. Seeing me thrown off-track she took the lead once more, not hiding her triumphant expression in the slightest.

She was not someone to be underestimated huh?

I still wondered what my help was going to include, when I followed her through PARCO to a fashion shop. Unable to figure it out, I decided to ask her.

"So the help you want from me is carrying your bags?"

"There is no way a normal high school student could afford that many clothes that this would be needed."

I still have not received my desired information and my desperation must have shown on my face that Miura took pity on me.

"Look, I'm just going to browse through the clothes. It's just no fun to do that alone, is it?"

"I'm not so sure about that. You like being laughed at?"

She raised an eyebrow, signalling that she didn't understand where I was coming from.

"What do you mean?"

"My parents have a hideous taste in clothing. So whenever they force me to wear something, it ends up with my sister laughing at me. I prefer the times my mother just picks up something without me, even if it will look crappy. So shopping alone, even without me is more fun than doing it with others."

I had expected that she would give me a shocked look or one of pity, but all there was one Miura's face was confusion.

"Don't you chose your clothes yourself?"

"Sometimes I'm allowed to. While I didn't inherited their bad taste, I'm not particular interested in fashion. I avoid the ridiculous stuff, but I mainly aim for functionality."

Standing around talking about my tragic fashion life, without getting to look at clothes, didn't seem like fun to her and she tried to end the topic.

"It's enough to give me your impressions."

I didn't mind that, but would that be helpful?

"You think I'm the right person for that? I'm sure there are many others who are more suited for that."

She let out a long sigh.

"Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be."

"Komachi is good at it. When she feels like I have suffered enough, she convinces my parents to buy something else for me."

Then her face lit up as she realised something.

"No wonder your look is so mismatched sometimes when you have so many different people choosing your clothes."

She examined me carefully.

"Some pieces are not bad. It doesn't go along with your trousers but the coat really fits your face. So your sister chose that?"

"Actually, the coat is something I picked myself."

I managed to surprise her with that. Was I supposed to feel bad or good about it?

Well, that I got praised felt good regardless of shocking that was to the other party.

"Oh, really? Let's see."

Miura came closer and started to fiddle with my coat while I was still wearing it.

Didn't she 'see' with her eyes? Did girls really have to touch clothes all the time to check them? Yukinoshita was no different than her in that regard.

Sensations ran though my body from wherever she touched the coat. Whether it was from her hands travelling across my chest to feel the material, when she gripped the shoulder to test the durability, or just when she plucked on the arm to remove a fluff.

When she straightened my collar and came into direct contact with my throat I couldn't endure it anymore. Miura was still the most beautiful girl at our school and I was just an inexperienced male.

While it felt like her touching lasted an eternity it was in fact just a few seconds. It wasn't too late for a comeback at her previous comment to make her stop.

"Are you really qualified to talk about matching something with pants?"

Her frown showed me that she knew that I referred to yesterday.

Miura tightened her grip on my collar so that I feared to not get enough fresh air into my lungs. The fear was unfounded though, it was only the fabric that felt her grip before she let go of me.

"Your coat passes, so let's go shopping already."

I followed her and tried to calm my heart down. With the sensation from her fingers gone, my nose registered suddenly the familiar perfume and made it an impossible task. It was just now that I realised how close she had been standing to me again.

The shopping session started out surprisingly simple. Miura held a piece of clothes in her hands and there wasn't much I could say just from that. The difficulty skyrocketed though when she exited the changing room with new clothes on and demanded my impressions.

"What do you think?"

Didn't she uncomfortable if a boy closely scrutinised a girl from top to bottom? I knew I felt that way. I could barely look at her and gave a lame, random but supportive opinion.

"It's not bad."

"You didn't even look!"

Obviously she wasn't pleased with that, but it really surpassed my capabilities.

"Even if you say that, it's quite embarrassing to do."

Miura crossed her arms and tapped with her foot. One of her characteristics when she got impatient and was in a bad mood.

"Isn't that a bit rich coming from you? You have no problems watching me in the classroom after all."

Oh crap! Couldn't I just die on the spot? She knew? Well, I knew by now that she was more observant than I initially thought when I first met her. There was nothing I could do against that trump card. I had no other option but to wave the white flag and surrender. I turned my red head towards her and took a look as she demanded.

I had seen her in better outfits already, but it still looked good enough to draw the attention of people passing by.

It was a simple black skirt, although dangerously short, and a sleeveless white top which revealed a lot of the skin around the throat, but it covered the breasts completely. Frills camouflaged the outline of her bosoms. While it showed a lot skin to tease the eye, there was nothing slutty about it.

"It doesn't really fit the season, but for summer it looks okay." She might have looked more for the kind of answer I had formulated in my thoughts, but I didn't dare to say it out loud. Talking about the breasts of the girl to the same person they belonged to was impossible for me.

She let it pass, but I could feel that her mood took a hit again. This continued a few times and I gave similar comments. Nothing was particular outstanding nor bad.

Compared to me, Miura was an expert on fashion and knew herself the best. I felt a bit out of place from the beginning, but now that changed into a feeling of being completely useless. I had not much fun and neither did she.

I was already at a point where I formulated my impression before she even came out, just to be dumbfounded by her.

The skirt didn't surprise me as she had always wore one so far. It was a bit longer than the rest though and it was a new colour. Yellow.

She wore a plain, long-sleeved white shirt with a sleeveless green one on top of it. I called the green one a shirt, but that wasn't really fitting. Apart from the sides it was a complete fishnet pattern. On the head she wore on of those french berets. It looked...

...totally stupid.

"Heh? What's with that abomination? Although if you're looking to enter a clown university it might be a blast." It was a blast for me to, like my stomach was about to burst from laughter. I couldn't surppress it completely and let out a snicker.

Miura stood with her hands on her hips and made a frown.

"What's with you? That is the latest fad. Someone as clueless like you shouldn't speak up, like, at all!"

She was entirely correct about my lack of knowledge in that department, but fashion was something subjective to me. Thus my opinion should count and I continued to voice it.

"Sure, if you want to look like a fool, be part of the trend. Is that even a piece of cloth you're wearing? With that net you won't even be able to catch cicidas, let alone a single boy. That outfit might let you become the girlfriend of the white-bellied green pigeon though. I'll cheer you on for that one."

Miura stormed off into the changing room and I was glad for that.

Even if she was angry now I needed some time alone to wipe the grin off my face.

However, Miura was far from angry when she came back out. Her mood was actually at its peak today. Did she just use the same trick on me that I did on Isshiki, when I had helped her out with the graduation ceremony farewell speech?

"If you're so knowledgeable about fashion, why don't you pick something for me?"

The grin that I had wiped off my face previously had made its way on hers.

That was going to be the hardest task of the day. It was also a golden opportunity to see some pants on her.

Like she had guessed my thoughts she ruined that plan of mine.

"No trousers though."

"You don't like them that much?"

"Aren't they just boring?"

That was her reason to be so stubborn about it that she would risk to get sick in winter? There was probably more to it, at least I hoped so.

"Then I'll will only pick something for the torso."

"Mhhm, that's okay."

I went to the section which had more to offer for this season. Not much time had passed when I presented her the piece I chose and saw her off to the changing room.

Although I only picked a pullover, it took her longer to get out of the changing room compared to the previous outfits.

She probably judged it by using the mirror inside.

"How could you pick this? Do you want to make me look like a grandmother?"

The only thing that came out from the changing room was her voice.

That confused me. What did her grandmother wear? According to my memory I picked a not too thick, black pullover. Only the hems on the waist and wrists were thicker, and so was the collar. The hems had discreet, golden coloured ornaments of soft lines on them. Except for the hems at the waist and wrists, everything was plain black including the collar. The fabric was soft. There was nothing grandmother-like about it. Thus I felt a little bit offended when I answered.

"What are you saying? Isn't cuddly and warm? Especially when you pull it over your hands. You often hold your head in your hands in the classroom, so isn't it fitting? The rest of the pullover is thinner so that you won't get sweaty indoors. The pattern reminded me of your hair when it spread on your black coat. So if it looks like a something an old woman would wear, you already do that yourself."

When I finished my piece she came finally out with an unsure expression on her face. The pullover didn't quite match the skirt, but it wouldn't look bad if one found a fitting one. The contrast of a short skirt to the long-sleeved pullover was surprisingly tempting. Like with her coat, her hair formed a natural ornament at the collar and on the shoulders. Rather than the inapproachable beauty at school, this look supported more the motherly aspects of her personality.

I didn't know if others could see that though, when they didn't know of that side of her. I did know. And when I saw her like that, my desire to be taken care of increased dramatically.

I watched her in a dreaming daze.

Since I haven't actually said a word after she came out of the locker room and just kept staring at her, she became nervous to the point that her cheeks got a faint pink colour. I had no mirror to confirm the state of my own, but they felt slightly warmer than usual.

When she turned around and my eyes lost sight of what they had been looking at I snapped out of the daze.

"Ha? Do you like the older type that much?"

The back of her head asked me that question. Just how intensively had I been watching her? I had no recollection. I mentally apologised for that.

"I don't see how that makes you look old at all."

I dodged the question that I heard a few times already, because I still had no answer for that.

Miura changed into her normal clothes and we were about to leave PARCO without buying something. She was the type of customers that shopkeepers must hate the most. Although I couldn't sit on the high horse myself, as I sometimes did the same inside a bookstore. Like earlier today.

"Did you have fun shopping with someone this time?"

Her question referred to our earlier conversation, before we started the actual shopping.

She still maintained her good mood she had from after getting out of that horrible outfit. I wouldn't need to ask whether she had fun or not. Her face had a beaming smile that said everything. It looked to be the right time to do _that_.

"Ha? Hhm, it was, like, not that bad. So, a-shi don't really mind it. But that one outfit was gross. Like, totally. Gross."

Miura's big eyes blinked in surprise at my unusual way to reply. Then her expression changed into another form of confusion with the eyebrows closed in together and a half-open mouth. Before it finally switched into realisation.

"Ha?! A-shi totally don't talk like that!"[5]

You just did though.

Miura noticed it herself and covered her mouth with both hands.

The practice in front of the bathroom mirror the last two days was really worth it. I couldn't stop myself from grinning from ear to ear when I watched her priceless reactions. Complete victory.

Noticing that I was greatly satisfied by the play, Miura started to hit my arm with both fists.

"Geez, don't ever do that again!"

Since when did my arm become a drum? I wasn't too bothered by it though. The hits were really light and she returned to her beaming smile from before. Unlike then though, she was now blushing greatly. The new 'teasing Miura', was really a funny game.

She did stand a bit too close though as my nose picked up her perfume again.

Suddenly I shuddered. I felt a hostile glare directed at me. I turned around to look for the source, but it vanished before I could figure out who did it. There were many people around us in the entrance area of PARCO. It seemed like it was rush hour currently. I couldn't spot anyone who looked familiar and the people who glanced at us did it either in a friendly or bored way.

"What's wrong?"

Miura noticed how I my restless gaze moved around.

"I thought someone was staring at me."

"Isn't that like normal though? People look at me all the time."

That was to be expected, even I was guilty of that.

"Normally no one notices me, so it's a bit surprising when that happens."

"Mhh you did mention that before. But if you stop to look around every time that happens, we'll never make it to the supermarket. So let's go."

Since it seemed to be impossible to find the perpetrator I gave up and we both exited the area for good.

"When did I talk about that?"

On the way to the supermarket, Miura mentioned the horror story I told at the summer camp. She remembered that? Her bad memory must only apply when it came to memorising things word by word. For everything else, she seemed pretty good at it.

* * *

The way to the supermarket and the shopping itself was uneventful. The only thing that bothered me was a certain female worker that had become overly aware of me. It looked like I became a fully recognised regular to the grocery shop.

Shortly before our usual parting spot, Miura asked me something surprising.

"Do you want to eat lunch with us tomorrow? You barely eat in the classroom and if you do, you're alone. Or do you eat with someone else when you go outside?"

'Us' probably referred to Miura's and Hayama's whole group. That thought wasn't very appealing. The group was big and I would just be the eighth wheel. I wasn't to keen on spending time with Hayama either. Thus I declined.

"No, I like eating by myself. You guys are pretty noisy too."

"Ha? You say that like it's a bad thing."

So there would be no deliberation on her part about to tone it down a bit.

"Yui would probably like it if you joined." She added.

"Won't I see her often enough in the clubroom when she comes to school again?"

If people were constantly together, they are bound to get bored of each other, didn't they?

"Also it's a break, and breaks are for resting. Resting is something which is best done alone anyway."

She looked like she wanted to say more and persuade me, but I better block that attempt in a nice way.

"Still, thank you for the offer. Maybe I'm ready for that at an other time."

"Mhhm, Okay."

Pushing things into an undated future wasn't exactly fair of me, but it didn't feel completely like a fake reason. Maybe the day, I would be ready for such a thing, would really come.

After all, my life would change a lot tomorrow.

We stopped at the usual spot and parted like always.

"Goodbye Hikio."

"See you tomorrow then."

I lazed around at home. It had been quite the draining Sunday. I had been out before noon and returned in the late afternoon. That was way too long for a Sunday. I gathered my last bit of energy for Komachi's cooking lesson, which was supervised by Mom again. She didn't trust me at all, did she?

Afterwards I went to bed. Tomorrow was the big day. Yuigahama would return to school and I was going to suggest my plan to the both of them. I was going to need every bit of rest I could get.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I filled my diary with today's events. It was always a lot quicker when I had fun at that time. And today was a lot of fun. I didn't have high expectations beforehand, thus I was pleasantly surprised how it turned out to be. Although it didn't look like that in the beginning. Hikio's lukewarm comments were no different from anybody else. Luckily that changed after I had pulled that stunt. Unlike others he did pay attention ad spoke his true opinion. Would Hayato do the same? I wished to think that, but I couldn't say I didn't have slight doubts. Not that I ever dared to do the same in front of him. I was set on to always show him my best side in order to win him over.

When Hikio chose the pullover for me I had been sceptical at first. It looked rather plain and seemed like it was something only boring adults would wear. So I thought he just went for a safe choice. Actually the thought that it was another one of his teasings did cross my mind in the changing room as well. He was quite cheeky today, wasn't he? It's a good thing that he became more lively. I preferred it when he was more proactive.

When I teased his reasoning for choosing this pullover out of him, I was convinced that he had put some personal thoughts into it. After I came out of the changing room I was even moved by his dreamy look. It seemed like he was really enthralled by the outfit. The honesty that his gaze contained embarrassed me mildly. For someone like me, who was constantly watched by others all the time, that was unusual.

When he waited for me in front of PARCO he had a different type of dreamy look. I found it rather sad how he stood there all alone, as if his existence was detached from everyone else. The feeling of worriedness had vanished into thin air, when I started to think that he ignored me on purpose though. It wasn't till our parting that I remembered again that I wanted to include him more into the class. But he declined, even if he wouldn't have to be alone anymore. Was he worried that he wouldn't be accepted? I was sure that I could bring everyone of the group to agree with that. Yui should be happy about it too if she really liked him.

Ah! I didn't get to ask him whether he liked her today. I'll definitely won't forget that tomorrow.

Anyway, when I looked into the mirror again before I disrobed the pullover, I could see its charming points as well. It fitted me strangely well. I was ashamed that I couldn't see it earlier and just disregarded it to be for old people. Did Hikio see that before? Or did he just follow his own taste?

Was he really into the older type like I teased him with?

Just how was his relationship with Hiratsuka-sensei? He said that they had met today. Very unusual. And she abused him physically again as well. Should I be worried for Yui's sake?

I let out a long sigh when I closed my diary.

Tomorrow I would finally see Hayato again. Hikio wouldn't dare to imitate me in front of Hayato, would he? Just thinking of it made my face blush again. He really was a weird one.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

My big day started with a big yawn. Yuigahama's return would end the status quo inside the clubroom. It was an odd feeling to know that your life was going to change soon. All the way to school I wondered how I would remember this 24th February in the future. Was it the beginning of my genuine thing or would it ruin my social environment? The small one that I had at least. It wasn't going to be easy if both agreed as at the end of the road just one would be chosen. If both rejected me outright I doubted that my heart could ever recover from that. Even in the event of just one accepting my proposal, it wasn't guaranteed that it would lead into a genuine relationship that lasted a long time.

I was sure that these thoughts would circle in my head all the time till club activities started.

When I entered the classroom there were only a few people who I had no connection with at all. I barely knew their names and Kawasomething-san wasn't even around.

Since I had no on to talk to I'll just rest till the lessons start. Somehow that thought was funnier than I expected and I had to snicker because of it. It grabbed the attention of a boy from the otaku faction. But he didn't look like he remembered my name to ask me what was going on. Pew, I got lucky with that, I needed to be more careful.

More and more people came, but it wasn't till Miura and Hayama came in that it got noticeably louder. Yuigahama and the rest were with them. The group looked cheerful as ever.

When Yuigahama separated from Miura to place her stuff at her own table another commotion followed. The people who weren't part of Miura's group took the chance to welcome her back after her cold. She was on good terms with most of the class, so it wasn't surprising. Unlike Miura, Yuigahama did socialise with the others. Even if it looked just superficial to me. With her being in the centre of attention I decided to keep a low profile.

After the voices had calmed down to a normal level I was poked by a slender finger and a female voice reached my ears.

"Hey Hikki."

It was Yuigahama who was on her way to Miura's group.

"I'm back"

That much was obvious, or I wouldn't have been poked.

"Huh? You were gone?"

I only wanted to tease her a bit but she looked more shocked than I anticipated. She even took a step back as if something had hit her.

"I was! And you know that! You even gave me a call!"

It had been a week without her around that I forgot how easily she got worked up.

"Did I? I only recall that someone wished for me not to hear anything, so I didn't."

Now that I had started to tease her I had to pull through. Not that I had no fun doing that.

"Th-that was only in regards to my mother... but please remember that we talked!"

I only shrugged my shoulder.

Deeply annoyed Yuigahama was about to head of to Miura.

"Welcome back." I said to her back.

She spun around to grin at me, waved her small hands in front of her chest and walked over to Miura.

Miura looked in our direction and had a slight smile on her face. She was probably so happy at Yuigahama's long awaited return to school.

* * *

Yukinoshita and I waited in the clubroom for the last member. Yuigahama was surely held up by her classmates because she had been absent for so long. She normally was the last member to arrive thus it wasn't unexpected. It had been longer than usual though.

I could barely read my book because I got more nervous with each minute. Today's big moment wasn't far-off anymore.

The door to the clubroom was pushed wide open.

"Yahallo Yukinon!"

"Hello."

Yukinoshita's greeting seemed warmer than usual. She must have been missing her quite a bit.

After she sat down next to Yukinoshita I stood up and stood on the other side of the table. Just like I did when I had come with a request. This rare act of mine got me their attention, but they had no surprised expressions on their faces. They had expected something from my side I guessed.

I heard someone gulping before I opened my mouth. Most likely that someone was none other than me.

"I want to go on dates."

I deemed it best to say it straight to the point. Being wishy-washy wouldn't help me.

They kept silent, but their eyes were widened.

Without interruptions I went on.

"I don't know how to get something... genuine.. because I lack experience." I made breaks around that special term to let them think back to the last time I stood on this spot. Even Gahama-san should be able to connect the dots.

"Therefore I want to gather experience through dating."

"That sounds like it contradicts itself. If you don't know where to get, you won't be able to know how to get there either."

That was Yukinoshita for you, she caught on quickly.

"That's true. That's why I want to go in every direction, at least for a bit."

"Wouldn't that be just two-timing? I knew you were twisted, but this is overstepping it."

Yuigahama seemed to have trouble understanding us and kept changing her eyes between Yukinoshita and me.

"Really? So something like a ha..hare..?"

The word she looked for seemed to be harem, but I had no time to tell her that as Yukinoshita grew quite angry. She was a righteous person after all, so that idea would bug her.

"That's why I set rules together with your sister."

"With Nee-san? When did you.."

I stepped on another landmine here. I doubted that there would be a customer today, so I would take all the time it needed to clear up everything.

"Meeting her was the price I had to pay to make her come to the park at the last time we were all together."

"Then what are the rules?" As usual Yuigahama knew how to keep the mood from drifting into an unwanted direction.

"First is, I will go on dates with everyone who wants." I realised that my proposal was unfair and selfish of me. It basically put all the pressure on the girl to speak out first. By declaring to accept everyone, I hoped to get rid of most of this pressure by removing the possibility of rejection.

"You think there would be that many who are willing to go on a date with you?" Yukinoshita's words were harsh, but her tone conveyed that this was just her usual banter. I was glad that she could calm down that fast.

"Well, j-just maybe Totsuka might want to do that. I'm not giving up hope so easily!"

Crap, I needed to control myself better, I always get so easily carried away.

"Just how much do you like him?!"

"Your sister will be worried again if she heard that. Which other rules have you come up with?"

Yuigahama's and Yukinoshita's reactions were mean. Couldn't they let a maiden just dream for a while longer?

"The second rule is a time limit. I don't want to play around with a girl's feelings endlessly like one of these riajuus." I gritted my teeth when I thought of a certain blond guy. Yuigahama made a wry smile as she was a friend of the guy in question.

"There must be a catch in it. You didn't specify the time limit yet."

"It's after two weeks into the next school year." I replied to Yukinoshita's concern.

"That is surprisingly reasonable. I was sure you would say something like a year."

"Haha right, like I would do that. Stop underestimating me." I let out a dry laugh. Scary. How did she know that? I started to feel indebted to Haruno this moment. That was the last thing I needed.

"So you will go out with anyone without exception? You won't turn someone down?" Yuigahama, who had been left out of the conversation for a while, tried to butt in by confirming the meaning of the rule.

"Yes, that's right."

She nodded at my words and turned to Yukinoshita with a serious expression.

"Yukinon, let's switch every day." I heard something horrible.

"Why do you think I would agree to his irresponsible logic Yuigahama-san?" I was hit by a mental arrow.

"You don't want? Then I'll take every day." Could you stop with this every day talk?

"Well, it technically count as a request from a club member. I won't have much of a choice but to help him gather experience." Was it so hard for you to be honest with your feelings? Or did I need to dress up in a cat costume for that to happen again?

"So it will be fine if I take him today, and Yukinon tomorrow?"

"St-stop it already!" I was at my limit when I saw all my free time being ripped from me.

"There is another rule!" One I just made up. "I'll only go on a date every three days."

"What's your reason for that?" Yuigahama looked very displeased. A reason? I just made it up right now so I had none. I had to come up with something on the spot.

"Well, you see, it's about me gaining experience. I'll need at least a day to prepare before and a day to deliberate on it after the date. If I have no time for that I won't learn anything. The quality wouldn't be very high either if I can't come up with a dating plan.."

Cold sweat ran down my back after saying all that.

"As much as I hate to admit, there is merit to his words." Yukinoshita had her hand on her chin as she thought about my words.

"We can't switch in that case though. It would be unfair for the person who won't have the weekends." It was surprising that Gahama-san remembered her school duties. There was something else I had to add though.

"Also don't reserve everything up to the deadline yet. Totsuka needs to get a chance as well."

I received a cold stare from both of them before they ignored me once more.

"How about we split it by weeks?"

"Wouldn't that be too unfair if someone got such a headstart though Yukinon?"

"Hey, listen to me! Even in the rare event Totsuka doesn't want, think of Komachi too."

It should be totally fine in chiba for siblings to go on dates, despite the distorted faces they made at me.

"There goes the siscon again." Yukinoshita needed to hold back another headache with her hand on her temple. She might should visit a doctor, this happens way too often.

"This has nothing to do with being a siscon. I really meant it when I said 'think of Komachi too'. She would die if she couldn't spend time with her brother anymore."

"Haha, I wonder who would die first though." I wondered that too.

"That doesn't matter. In the case of my death it would put an end to the dates too."

Yuigahama took a step back while still sitting on a chair. An amazing feat.

"He didn't even deny!"

At this time the door of the clubroom was pushed open so strongly that it made a huge noise.

The service club members were all startled by the sudden interruption.

"Senpai it's bad! The speech has been returned and I need you! Come, quick! Quick!"

Before anyone could recover from the shock, Isshiki had pulled me out of the room.

"It won't take long, I promise!" She said to the baffled Yukinoshita and Yuigahama and closed the door. That probably translated into 'don't follow us' in girl language.

* * *

In the room of the student council I looked through the returned graduation ceremony farewell speech and then turned my head at Isshiki in confusion.

"There isn't anything that needs to be corrected. All Hiratsuka-sensei demanded was to remove the hearts you drew at the end. You'll just have to rewrite the last page without those." An image came up on my mind how my teacher's mood dropped with every heart she had to see. Wasn't this a bit childish though? It was not like the audience would ever see the paper. Someone needs to marry her soon.

"It's just so boring to do that alone. It won't take long, so why don't you just stay here. Please!" When she asked me with her watery puppy eyes looking up to me, I had it not in me to refuse.

"Well, it really shouldn't take that long, so I guess it's fine." That would give Yuigahama and Yukinoshita time to talk with each other in private as well to reach a solution.

Isshiki made a happy face and started to copy the page with the hearts on it.

After the first two sentence in silence, she started a conversation.

"You guys seemed to be quite busy there. Did I walk in on something important? If so I'm sorry." She said so in a small voice. Did she feel guilty?

"I just had something to say to them. They'll have now time to think about, so you don't have to worry about it. Actually your timing was quite good."

I tried my best to assure her that everything was fine.

"You're quite close to them, aren't you? To be a special person to someone... that must feel nice." Her smile looked so sad when she said this, that I tried to cheer her up. She continued before I could do that though.

"Why can't I be special to someone too?" Isshiki buried her face in her arms and started to sob and her small body shook.

"Don't say that, you're a special person to me too." I couldn't endure to see her like that and I spoke out before thinking.

"Really? How am I special to you? Making me the president doesn't count."

That her sobs stopped instantly should have been a warning to me, but I wasn't able to think clearly yet. I was busy enough to come up with a reason.

"We did spend a lot of time together, didn't we? To the point I already saw you crying once. You're special enough to me that I'll be there to prevent that from happening again. I can't endure it to see you sad like this." Just what was I saying? A crying girl made me do weird things. Komachi had trained her brother well. Maybe too well.

She got her face up to look at me in surprise. Why did your eyes look like there had been no tears at all? This should have been the second warning. However this thought was interrupted when a noise shattered the silence. Her pen had rolled off the table. How could it cause such a ruckus?

"Well, you have been my first date after all. Even if it was a practice date for Hayama."

It had been my first time. I only went shopping with Yukinoshita when we bought presents for Yuigahama's birthday. And the firework festival with Yuigahama was just a shopping tour for Komachi as thank you for looking after her dog. I accompanied Hayama to a date once, but it wasn't mine. I wasn't invited by the girls after all.

Isshiki looked down to the floor and placed one hand on my knee.

"Indeed, that was fun, we should repeat that."

"I don't think I want to do another date for Hayama's sake." Quick refusal.

"Then it will be a real one. I don't mind if it's with you." The last sentence sounded quite seducing on its own. Still, if refusal failed I still had one more method to decline.

"Ah, sure. Someday that would be nice." Pushing it into a far away, unspecified future.

"Let's go Wednesday then." I thought I didn't hear well.

"What?"

"You'll need some time to prepare yourself. I don't want it to be something shabby after all."

That sounded like it was decided already. I became uneasy and my eyes darted towards the door. Yukinoshita and Yuigahama would get mad if I decided that without them.

That didn't escape Isshiki's attention.

"You won't need a permission if a special person asks you out. Or do you want to refuse me after saying all those sly things?"

Who was sly here, pretending to be crying?

She had a point though. I wasn't allowed to refuse. If I broke my rule this early, I would just be scum. Untrustworthy to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. In the worst case I would really end up as another Hayama.

"O-okay. Wednesday then." I'll just squeeze in one of those two before Isshiki to make them less mad. Wait a moment. Even if I went on a date as early as tomorrow and prepared for it today, I would break the three days rule. Did she eavesdrop behind the door again?

Isshiki stood up from her chair and placed her hands on my shoulder leaning in to me. Her face got really close. If she tripped on the pen, which was still on the floor, there was a high chance our lips would meet. Nothing happened though. This wasn't a light novel. Her face stopped ten centimetres before mine. Her glossy lips formed a seductive smile that I had to look away from them. With her face so close though I had not much else to look at thus my eyes came to a stop when I had met hers.

"I'm looking forward to it senpai. So don't even think about back-paddling."

My head nodded on its own. I would have agreed to anything in this moment.

These kouhais today sure grow up fast.

After this incident, the writing quickly came to an end and I was released to go back to the clubroom. I opened the door and it looked like they had awaited my arrival. How should I explain to them what happened?

"You look like you have been robbed." Yukinoshita remarked upon my entry.

My whole body language must have given that away.

Yuigahama's face already made an upside down V.

"I think I can already guess what happened."

That made it easier for me.

"Wednesday." Was the only word I could mutter.

The upside down V turned into a pout and Yukinoshita got another headache incoming. Seriously, go see a doctor, that wasn't normal anymore.

* * *

Inside the supermarket I stood in front of the fish, lost in my thoughts.

In the end Yuigahama got Saturday while Yukinoshita got the Wednesday next week. While a date on the weekend was longer, it didn't fill the whole day to keep things fair in the beginning. I was just glad that somehow everything turned out to be fine. Even with Isshiki's trickery.  
Komachi had noticed that something was up, but I was able to delay it to later this evening.

A hand on my shoulders snapped me out of these thoughts.

Was it that worker bothering me again? Did she forget me already? I would actually prefer that instead of those badly hidden glances.

I turned around, but instead of the middle-aged woman in the store's uniform, it was Miura who stood now in front of me.

"Oh, Hello."

"If this is a new act of yours, just stop it."

I tilted my head in confusion.

"I thought you wanted to be greeted that way?"

She shook her head sideways and sighed.

"Not that. I mean, I greeted you four times already. That's worse than yesterday."

"I'm sorry." But then a thought crossed my mind. "Wait a moment. You claim that you have been greeting me, there is no proof for that. Maybe this is your way to get around it. I clearly remember that it was you who took the longest to do a proper greeting after all."

"Ha? It's totally on you if you don't pay attention to your surroundings. Don't try to blame me for it."

A sudden feeling of stubbornness came over me. Was it the after-effect of this day?

"I'm not moving from this spot till I hear it."

Miura put her nose up and made a few steps away. I was unreasonably here and I knew it. This escalation, I didn't want it, so I made a step in her direction to give chase.

My food was in midair the moment she turned around again and I was petrified.

She had an annoyed expression of defeat on her face in that moment, but it turned into a chuckle when she saw me like this.

I was so close to winning, urgh.

To save the situation I pretended that nothing has happened.

"Oh, hello."

She closed in and gave me a slight nudge against my shoulder. Since I still stood on only one leg I nearly lost my balance.

"Hello Hikio. You're strange as ever I see."

That worked out well, at least partially. I got my proper greeting that was missing yesterday. Somewhere behind me I heard another chuckle, that of a middle-aged woman I guess. Doesn't she have anything to do?

We were walking outside together when Miura started a new topic. It had been just the moment the door behind was closed. It seemed like she had waited for this opportunity.

"You looked good together."

"Who did?"

I needed more information to board her train of thoughts.

"Yui and you in the classroom today."

Oh, there was something like that. I also remembered Miura smiling at that time.

"You picked her originally because of her looks. My face is not bad either. Of course that wouldn't make anyone of us look bad."

She made a faint grimace.

"How you say it is really annoying but.." Miura stared at my face. She came closer without continuing her sentence.

"What is it?" I got uncomfortable with that inspection of my facial features. Miura then took a step back to gain some distance.

"..it's as you said. However, I didn't mean the outer appearance of you two. The fact of you being together was appealing."

She agreed? Well it was true, but being able to say it so clearly was surprising. Yukinoshita agreed to it as well, but she always made fun of my eyes afterwards. Therefore this wasn't quite the same.

What did she mean with being together though? Like in friendship? Or as in–

A slightly stronger nudge than that of inside the grocery store hit my shoulder again and disrupted my thinking.

"Hey, are you listening?"

She said something? Ever since I left the school today, I couldn't concentrate anymore.

"Sorry, I had a hard day. Would you repeat what you said?"

Her face was now on of worry.

"Did something happen today?"

It certainly did, but should I tell her? We had been getting along rather well and I even delayed my talk to Komachi so I wouldn't miss our daily meeting here. If I had her number though I would have asked to meet her later. Komachi should always come first.

It could be helpful to include her, similar to Haruno. Heck, I even had asked my father indirectly for help. An expert like Miura should have come before him.

"Yes, I decided to allow dates."

"Ehhh?! You mean you have denied that before?"

For someone like her that must have been something out of this world. Thus I tried to make her understand it.

"You know that I had a bad experience with forming a relationship, right? The story with the music CD wasn't the only one. There were others too. For example–"

"Wait."

I felt Miura's hand on my arm as if she wanted to prevent me from going to a far away place. Most likely she just wanted me to stop from dwelling in my memories, but it also made my legs stop.

"I'll listen to these stories later, I promise. But this is, like, kind of important. So why didn't you allow dates before?"

There was no need to promise me that, it's not like I wanted to relive my past traumas. I just get caught by the mood sometimes that I tell them. And there wasn't exactly much else I could talk about from my past.

Forming my life into a short statement that Miura would understand was a difficult task, but not impossible for me. Being the third ranked in Japanese wasn't just for show and analysing myself was not much different than analysing others. It was even easier as I had much more information about myself. There was just one problem with it. It was embarrassing.

"I couldn't trust people anymore when they were nice to me."

My head hung low when I said that and I closed my eyes.

To someone who didn't knew much about me it must sound like I was only stuck in a phase. A childish tantrum, shutting out the world because I couldn't deal with a few hardships. Except for Komachi there was no one who knew about all my experiences, those in school or at home. My fear to end up being hurt again was justified as culmination of all experiences. That was what I believed.

While I was trapped in my thoughts, something warm was placed on my left cheek and it slowly raised my head. I opened my eyes at this sensation and I saw that Miura's arm was extended to me. It must have been her hand on my cheek, and it raised my head higher, till my eyes met hers.

"It's okay, I think I understand."

I didn't believe for a second that she truly understood, and from her words it was implied that she didn't think so either. But these big emerald eyes were filled with a determination that overshadowed these doubts. She looked as serious as at the time she replied to me back in the clubroom during the career plan request.

This gaze affected my heart and I accepted this goodwill of her.

It caused my left eye to shed a tear. This tear ran down towards the hand that seemed to provide warmth to my whole body. It felt good to be understood, it was something I longed for without being aware of it. Even if she didn't understand me fully, this comforting did not feel hollow at all. Thanks to these eyes of hers.

"Sorry." I apologised for nothing. It was simply a signal.

Even if I didn't want to, I moved my face away from the hand before the tear reached it, to dry it with my handkerchief.  
As anticipated my body got colder when this moment ended. When her hand didn't touch me anymore. But it was fine. I had made a good memory and it couldn't be tainted as it had ended already. The tear wouldn't connect with the hand and cause her to say something like 'gross' before retracting her hand in disgust.

I didn't really believe that the Miura in front of me would do such a thing anymore, but I didn't want to take the slightest risk.

She remained silent while I was occupied with removing the tear. I dragged the moment a bit to calm myself down.

When we began to walk again she continued the conversation.

Her tone didn't sound as if she was actually interested in it, but her glances blew up that cover.

"So, you'll go on a date with Yui?"

"Yes I will. This Saturday. Isshiki on Wednesday and Yukinoshita a week later."

I confirmed just as nonchalantly as her question.

"Ha?!"

What I received though was an outburst of emotions.

The warmth I had felt before was gone now. Definitely. Her frown sucked it all out.

I hectically waved my arms in front of my chest. The only line of defence I had.

"I won't be doing this for long though! Only until the beginning of the new school year."

Faced with her anger I better started with this part. Thinking back, I should have done the same with Hiratsuka-sensei.

Miura tapped with her finger on her crossed arms and with a foot. At least she was going to hear me out and it wouldn't be an instant-kill. To a pure maiden's heart like hers this was something outrageous, so I felt glad for the chance to explain it.

"You see, dating usually leads into a relationship right? I have no experience with that though, but I want the relationship to be a good one, without regrets. I don't want to mindlessly start one, than fail at it and start the next one. I don't want to be hurt and I don't want to hurt them either. So I have to get experience to prevent that."

She listened to me quietly. Even after I had finished she remained silent and thought about my words. Without a word she started to walk again, apparently she finished thinking it through.

"Do you like Yui?"

Miura didn't look at me when she asked. If her question was the result of her thought process then it probably meant something like 'Can't you just listen to your heart?'.

If only I could do that.

"I don't want to fall into this trap for the third time. So just to be sure, what do you mean with that?"

It might have been just my imagination but it appeared like Miura shrank at my counter question.

"L-like, do you l-love her?"

Miura's head still looked at something ahead and didn't move. The one cheek I could see though was coloured pink. Pink definitely was the best colour.

"You're going all the way? How shameless."

I couldn't resist to tease her. Even when I received the anticipated hit on my arm, it was still worth it.

"Geez, just say it already, will you?"

"I don't hate her or anything."

At my words Miura rolled her eyes in disappointment, but while her mouth was open to say something, she didn't complain about my answer.

"There are many things I like about her, if I knew whether this is enough for love to last, I wouldn't need to go through all these dates."

I continued and gave her a proper answery. I considered it somewhat as a payment for letting me tease her.  
And the surprised expression she showed me was a nice bonus. I didn't get tired to see it.

Not far from the parting spot Miura had another question for me.

"Why Isshiki though?"

"I was wondering that too. After all she likes Haya–"

A black hole opened next to me, I was getting swallowed by a bad vibe!

"Most likely it was just a 'since everyone does it, I might as well' thing for her. I doubt she is serious about it."

I didn't know that black holes could be closed, but this one did. Something gloomy remained though.

"Why do you go then?"

"It's part of the rules that I won't decline anyone. No one would have to deal with unnecessary things."

Miura nodded in agreement. If it weren't for these unnecessary things, she would have confessed to Hayama a long time ago. That was probably why she understood it so quickly.

"What are the other rules?" She continued to ask.

"The deadline and a condition that it won't fill up my whole schedule. I'll need time to prepare for a date and to think after it."

It was the place to part and we did, like usual. There was a slight difference though. Today she waved slightly at me, and thus I returned the gesture.

* * *

Komachi awaited me at home.

"Welcome home Onii-chan!" Who couldn't feel happy upon such a greeting. It wasn't one without an ulterior motive though. I returned the greeting nonetheless.

"I'm home."

"So, spill the beans Onii-chan." She sat down on the sofa and patted on the empty spot next to her. I sat down like I was motioned to do and feigned ignorance.

"What do you mean?"

It wasn't my intention to hide something, not from my sister, but I wanted to know how she figured it out. Did she talk with Yuigahama or Yukinoshita?

"No need to play around, I saw it in your eyes. One look was all I needed as your sister. That was just high in my book!"

I ignored her remark and inquired as it took me by surprise.

"My eyes?" My hand moved automatically up to touch that area. Without a mirror I couldn't confirm anything though.

Komachi nodded her head vigorously at me.

"They got a bit... friendlier."

"I didn't notice anything like that." Doubt began to rise in me.

"They really did. You only see yourself in the morning, that's why you didn't notice. But I look at them all the time! The Komachi points keep piling up today!"

There was some truth to her words, I wanted to check it right away, but I doubted that she would let me leave another time. I had to do it after the talk.

And thus I started.

"I'll be going on dates soon." I wanted to go on, but it didn't look like Komachi would be able to hear anything at this moment. She became a deactivated persocom. Did I have to reboot her? The switch couldn't be located at..[6]

As if she was aware of danger, she came back to her senses.

"Really?"

"Really."

After I had confirmed her unnecessary question she threw herself at me for a rare hug. Mostly we expressed our affection only through words, this would probably surprise Yuigahama and Yukinoshita.

"With whom do you go?"

"Yuigahama, Yukinoshita and Isshiki."

I received three pinches into my cheek, they actually hurt a lot. She wasn't playing around.

She frowned at me like she demanded her hug back.

"I'm serious. Let me explain."

Before I could do so, she interrupted me with another question, with a face like she had just realised something.

"Who is Isshiki? The classmate you met at the grocery store?"

Huh, She forgot? Well my sister was an idiot and they haven't even met in person.[7]

"No, it's the underclassman I made into the student council president. Remember?"

"Aaahhh"

Since that was clarified I explained her the rules, who wanted to do it and when it will happen.

When I was done she told me to wait on the sofa. Komachi herself stormed off towards the room of our parents. I heard some noise of opened drawers. Just what was she doing there?

With a proud smile on her face like she had conquered China, she came back.

"Here, this might help you."

Komachi gave me a photo. It didn't look old, but it was from a time that had long passed.

"This is a photo from us as kids. But it looks so new."

"Hehe, I thought it would be useful one day. After our Christmas shopping with Yui-sand and Yukino-san I made a copy of it."

Komachi had mentioned back then that there were pictures of me, when I was young, without rotten eyes. This must be one of those. I was really young in this picture. It was taken in front of our house and showed me and a very small Komachi. Just how old was I? I didn't remember. I looked so innocent in it.

"What do you mean with useful?"

"You can give it to the one you love. It is bound to raise your points with her."

"Like I would part from it when my sister is so cute in it."

Silence followed.

Komachii deactivated again.[8] Her daze looked so cute that I had to avert my face.

"Ahh, I got fooled again." Why did I feel like being the fooled one then?

"Don't worry about that Onii-chan. It's just a copy. The original stays inside the family photo album."

The quality was surprisingly good.

"To live in such an advanced Chiba, we sure are lucky."

"That's nothing exclusive to Chiba though." Komachi said with a dry laugh.

Be quiet! Chiba was the best.

"Onii-chan?"

I looked over to her.

"What is it?"

"You did well coming this far. For that I will give you a reward."

A reward? I sure got a lot from her this evening already. A hug, a cute childhood photo. What else could there be? It must be that!

"Do I have to close my eyes to get it?" I asked shyly.

"Hee? What do you imagine gomii-chan? I speak of advice. Advice you hear me? What a trashy brother."

I heard her clearly. Any louder and I would have never heard anything again.

"Tone down and say it."

Komachi looked into my eyes with a stern look.

"When you get complimented or praised by a girl, accept it. Don't give her your 'but I didn't do anything' crap."

"That's it? What a weird thing to say. I never turned down a single of your compliments."

I puffed out my chest.

"Silly onii-chan, I'm saying you should accept it with your heart and when it means something."

"Are you saying your compliments have no meaning? That was so low in points."

I chuckled. Of course I knew what she meant and I was grateful for it.  
But even when she saw me just playing around, she still sulked. Thus I added some more.

"Everything else this evening was so very high in points though. Thank you"

We had a lot of fun in the following cooking lesson. Without mother overseeing us it wasn't that difficult though.

I tried to confirm her claim about my eyes, but honestly I didn't see much of a difference.

A lot did happen today. A lot of good things. I was allowed by three girls to follow my path to something genuine. I had a good time with my sister. And there was also some warmth on my left cheek. The 24th February was a day worthy to remember.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I felt happy when I got home. Like truly happy. I thought I would have no issues filling my diary today, but I got stuck.

The last words I wrote screamed back at me. 'Yui will go on a date!' was written there. It had not bothered me when I wrote those words. But now I realised.

I knew something important about Yui which she had not told me yet. Would she do that tomorrow? Will she ask me for advice? Or would it be all very different?

My mood became gloomy when I looked at these words. Would I have to ask her to make her talk? Would she even talk if I did ask?

Hikio had set the bar very high for Yui. He told me easily that he liked a lot of things about Yui. Considering his past it was as good as a confession. He did so despite the short time we have spent together. The time I spent so far with Yui was much longer and she had not called me about it yet. She didn't even sent a text. Would she have the trust in me to inform me tomorrow? What would it mean if she won't do it?

It worried me deeply. I considered her to be my best friend after all.

How long could I pretend not to know? The situation with dating three girls was messy, it could serve as an excuse to not talk about it immediately. But not the whole time. It will trouble Yui along the way and who would she talk about her troubles to if not to her best friend?

I tried to push these thoughts back and left some lines empty before I continued to write.

There was another moment I wanted to write inside my diary.

'It's okay, I understand' That was what I said to him, but I didn't to it. There were so many different sides to him that it was impossible to connect all the dots. Nonetheless I said that.

I said it because there was one thing I felt clearly when his head hung low.

His past pained him a lot. It caused him to seek distance whenever someone got too close. That was why he didn't embrace me when I cried grabbing his coat. That was why he couldn't endure my hand on his face. Yui was probably held back by that seeking of distance too. If only she talked about it, I could surely help her. She might be able to cure his heart. Perhaps she did so already all this time inside the Service Club. I didn't know. Hikio didn't seem to have issues with short periods of physical contact. At least he didn't look bothered by it when I hit him after his teasings.

Understanding this much was enough. It was enough to feel his pain. It was enough to feel the hidden happiness that expressed itself only in a single tear.

I could now fill the empty lines. 'He seems to like her a lot. I'm so happy for her!'

Regardless of whether Yui tells me tomorrow or the day after. I knew that this is the feeling I have for her inside my heart. I understood this much.

I was in my bed, unable to sleep yet. Often I had asked myself what Yui did see in Hikio. When I watched him from afar he didn't look very appealing. His posture was so crooked, his smiles looked nearly evil, his eyes were passive. Today I saw nothing of that, despite looking very closely. Even my recent memory didn't support the opinion I had of his looks. Did Yui change him that much already, or was I simply mistaken before?

Was it because of Hayato looking perfect, that I couldn't see Hikio for what he was during the times he was practically unknown to me?

Whatever the reason was, it didn't change the fact that I saw a handsome face today. It wasn't even near the quality of Hayato. No one's face was. But... Yui chose well.

* * *

[1] Magical beans from Dragon Ball which instantly heal all wounds and provide energy

[2] Miura said it in V 6.75, and Yuigahama interpreted it.

[3] These are terms on how hard the noodles should be. These are the same ones they used in the LN.

[4] Shizuka used those examples in a metapher about growing up during the first time they ate ramen together.

[5] Miura's 'I' in japanese is a-shi, instead of the normal watashi. The a is long since there are 2 of them in watashi. I used it here to put more elements of her normal speech pattern into this imitation act.

[6] Persocoms are PCs in the form of humans of the manga Chobits. The main heroine had her switch between her legs.

[7] Iroha forgot that Hachiman had a little sister, despite him telling her that before. I wanted to add a similarity as Iroha is usually described as an 'uncute Komachi'

[8] The main heroine from Chobits is called Chii, thus the double 'i' here.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **The chapter is too long. However, I didn't want to separate these days as they are the transition from the beginning to the middle of my story.**

 **Since it hasn't been brought up in the reviews of the last chapter, I'll have to ask something. Was it noticeable that Yumiko didn't say his name when she was mad at him in chapter 4? I wonder if such an element is too subtle to have an effect for when she named him again for the first time.**

 **I mostly have talked about Miura in the past A/Ns. This time I want to add something important to Hachiman's character. Since Komachi knows him the best I go by her opinion most of the time. Here is what she said in the Christmas special: "The thing about onii-chan is that while you're extremely cynical, you also like to dream a lot."**

 **Hachiman's father got some spot light, like I said in an earlier chapter I would like to not make him speak directly, since he didn't do so in the LN. Here are Hachiman's true thoughts on his father from V.5. "The Hikigaya family wasn't on bad terms at all. Pops was, well, quite the scumbag, but that really only applied to how he spoke and his thought process; everything else wasn't an issue." He influenced Hachiman's personality a lot it through his warning stories on women. He appears to be a copy of Hachiman's bad side. Since the good side wasn't mentioned though I'll treat him not as an exact copy in total. For me he lacks in the dreaming part that Hachiman has plenty of. Perhaps these are the main reasons why Komachi often shows her father the cold shoulder.**

 **Now for the reviews. Thank you everyone for them, like last time I will address those with issues or questions.**

 **fluffpenguin** Many people treat the mutual hate of Hachiman and Hayama for a joke because it was said so nonchalant, but it is real. I will explain it in a later chapter. Because of this he doesn't want to say good things about him and he has two reasons not to mention the bad stuff either. Miura likes Hayama and like always Hachiman won't say something bad about people who aren't present.  
In V11 Iroha admitted that Miura's personality wasn't that bad. It is unclear yet if Yumiko's opinion of Iroha has changed too, but Yumiko was nice to Iroha 2 times without it having much of an effect in treatment after Iroha felt better. No media mentioned any response of Yumiko to Iroha being nice to Hachiman so far. In my story it will depend on how much she sees her as a threat to her Hayato or Yui's Hachiman.

 **hikigaya** If you're referring to wanting to get closer as in a romantic way, that is too early. She is head over heels for Hayama. That won't be changed easily. After all she declared that he had nothing else besides him.

 **DiceWW** Most people just have watched the anime, and that one cut off like 80% of Hachiman's thoughts (if not more). Yumiko basically happens only in his thoughts and thus her character got reduced a lot. Even when reading the LN it is not easy to spot his true thoughts on things, as they are often rather short compared to his jokes. For example his true thoughts on his father is just what I wrote in this A/N. His complains about him are like 20 times longer. To figure out his true thoughts I mostly go by people's opinion inside the story who either know him well or are good at analysing. Haruno is one of these people, and like I said in the last chapter, she views him as open person with some conditions. Komachi is another source I trust and her thoughts are in this A/N. With my explanations I try to reduce the OCC feeling as much as possible. I' don't mind it if people have a different opinion and won't agree with me. I can only say that I try to stick to the characters as close as possible with the impressions I got from the LN.

 **Sixth Day of Division** I'm not expecting this ship to play a major role in the real LN's future. Yumiko is bound to Hayama and Hachiman is bound by his Club. However, if not shackled by these bonds, they would do make a great pair together. And that is why I take it so serious here. I'll continue this below for everyone.

 **The story behind the creation of this fanfic and slight summery of the development that has taken place:**  
Before I started gathering material for this FanFic I viewed it as something unlikely.  
I only had 2 clues. My feeling how Hachiman often looked at Yumiko was one. I had discussions about it why that was the case. The most likely reason was just physical attraction because of her beauty. My second clue was that he seemed rather protective of her and often thought about her good sides.  
The initial idea was to show how every girl was at the moment of this long LN break in a position to develop an happy end with Hachiman. I picked Yumiko because it seemed to be the most unlikely one.  
It wasn't till I looked for information with concrete searches that I understood how similar these two characters are. Especially in their bipolarity. I was really surprised though how much one missed by simply reading the LN.  
An example: The nickname Hikio is obviously designed to be funny. So when it appears, it marks comedy. And it is treated like that by the characters inside the story like that. When I read Tobe's reaction to it, I didn't thought anything beyond 'oh it's funny'. It was just another small joke in a sea of jokes stretched over 11 and more Volumes (when counted the specials). When I searched for 'Hikio' though to count how often it was said, I realised just how much time has passed from the first usage till the moment with Tobe. (Summer= Winter). That triggered further questions, why it took so long, what does her group think of her, how did school think of her?  
One always sees the joke 'Miura is scary'. We don't question it anymore. But what does it mean for Yumiko? It's like a running gag that became mobbing, unnoticed by the users of the jokes. Tobe revealed his thoughts in the summer camp about her, Yumiko gave us Ebina's thoughts how she viewed their relationship, in an extra Yui used Yumiko's name to scare away a flirting boy, Sagami's subtitles, the lack of cheering her on during the tennis match, Hayama's thoughts on Yumiko (indirectly through Tobe and Hachiman). At some point one has to step back from the joke and have to accept how reality is for Yumiko. All that culminated in chapter 4 in Hachiman's answer. I stripped off all that was not Yumiko related to see the clear picture. One I couldn't see before, even having read the LN.  
She is physically part in her group, in school. But emotionally she is rather detached. Not by her own will though. But not as much as Hachiman was at the start of the LN, but more than one would think. I also mentioned last time that Hachiman knows that Yumiko trusts him by V10. Something she did not in V7, Hachiman stated it here. Miura started to become a role model for him when he lost his believe 'if the club can't take this much, there wasn't much of a relationship to begin with'. He learned from her how to overstep boundaries for example. While he learned that from her by pushing her so far for her true answer, her inner desire to come out of her mouth, she found the determination to stop being so passive about Hayama. Her desire to have deep bonds is similar to Hachiman's, and he uncovered that for her. Bonds were both sides share everything with each other. We only have Hachiman's thoughts on this, but for that he admires Yumiko at the end of V10.  
We have a lot of development for these two, they just didn't spent much time together though. All of this was mentioned at some point already. Either in the story or in the A/N.  
More on theirr bipolarity I mentioned.  
Yumiko is the strong willed, unapproachable beauty and a pure maiden. Hachiman is the cynical, distance seeker while also being the pure dreamer. The one side pushes them away from each other, while the other draws them together.  
If they were forced to spend time together they would overcome that first effect sooner or later. If they weren't bound by others it might be enough for more.  
That's was the only thing I did so far in the story. I created an environment based on LN reasons that made them spent time together. I even had Hachiman retreat from her at first, till it wasn't possible anymore for him to do so. And I temporary removed the outer bonds. Yui's cold to pause the development from the club, Hayama being busy. Everything else just went on as normal. Now they understand each other enough that removing the outer bonds isn't necessary anymore. Thus this marks the end of the beginning and the start of the middle part.

 **If there is something you want to ask about just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 6 again.**


	6. Can this even be called stagnancy?

This Tuesday morning, didn't feel any different to me than the past ones. Despite the turn I took in life yesterday, everything went on as normal. I stood up at the same time as always, cleaned myself, ate something and went to school.

That was just logical, but deep inside me I had hoped this new start would be more special.

I felt dissatisfied to say the least.

Expectations invited this feeling and it reminded me of why I got rid of them in the first place. However, they were an unwanted by-product of my change, so I could only endure the dissatisfaction for now.

* * *

Nothing was different in the classroom either. Why would it? The desire for something to change was too big for my own good.  
Relax..  
Relax...  
...

Oh damn, I nearly fell asleep. I followed the lessons most of the time and after the fourth period it was time for lunch. While I wondered how I would spend my 500 yen today, I realised that no one had bothered me till now and it didn't change for this break. Once one was infected by expectations it was incredibly hard to get rid of them again. Maybe I should see a doctor? Spending the fifth period in the infirmary was an appealing idea, as I would be sidelined in the next class anyway. On the other hand, if I went there too often, I wouldn't be able to go there when it was really needed. At least it was a period I could usually sleep through. The reward of sleep successfully fought back the expectations, nothing happened, I got it by now.  
The world just didn't care about me.  
Thus it was only natural to assume that this would continue till the time for club activities came, but I was wrong.

The sixth period was oral communications class and like usual the students should talk with each other in English.[1]

There was just one detail differently today that changed the entire usual flow.

Normally the partner for the talk would be the person next to you. However, today the teacher had the horrible idea to let us chose our partners freely as long as it was still of the opposite sex. Needless to say the seats around me were vacant in an instant.

When did this turn into another gym class experience?

It gave me time to observe the class though, since I had to wait for whoever ended up to be the unlucky last person to team up with me anyway. I tried to ignore the needle that poked my heart.

The teacher seemed to be pleased with his idea when he saw the students being more energetic than usual.

Out of the corners from my eyes I saw how Miura waited patiently for Hayama to finish his talk with Ebina.

My gaze moved to Yuigahama, who was stuck with her usual partner. Although she glanced at me from time to time, she was too nice to refuse him.  
Actually, most of the people stayed with the usual classmate. The noise that the teacher's announcement caused started to soften.

I could see how Miura suppressed her tapping habit, but she couldn't hide the vibes she gave off. At least that caused the other girls to back off Hayama and made them settle for the next available option.

Among those nearby option was Tobe. The poor guy probably wanted to use that chance to spend time with Ebina. What were they talking about that long anyway?

Before I could strengthen my ears to eavesdrop I had a sudden realisation.

Couldn't I use this opportunity to have more Totsuka-time? Now the teacher deserved to grin, I applauded him inside my mind.  
My enthusiasm vanished quickly though when I saw that a girl had claimed Totsuka already.

I clicked my tongue as I sent glares of death towards the unknown rival.

If I had known her name, it would make its way on my 'list of people I'll never forgive' immediately.

With my hopes shattered and nothing particularly to do, I tried to listen in Hayama's and Ebina's talk, but it sounded like it was about to end anyway.

As if Hayama had just noticed that Miura waited for him he looked surprised before giving her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, I still need to talk with Hina some more."

Miura's eyes blinked rapidly upon this sentence, as if she had just seen an alien.

"Huuh? But! Why?!"

The reward for waiting that long was snatched away from her, making her unable to form a proper string of words.

"The HxH thing has gotten a bit out of hand recently, I would like to talk her out of it or at least to tone it down."

I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, but I still received a burning glare. _Why was it directed at me? I was the victim here, you hear me? Victim!_

After a few seconds the fire was extinguished and the sound of people walking stopped. The class was only filled with foreign chatter.

Heavy footstep approached me after a minute, that was probably the unlucky person.

"What are you doing here?"

At the sound of an elder male voice talking to me I opened my eyes and saw the teacher.

"Go to your partner already."

I stood up to look for a left-alone student who didn't even have the manners to come to my desk. Seriously, what was up with the youth these days?

Everyone was talking except for one. I could barely make out who it was though. The student produced a smokescreen of pure darkness. It reeked of death. The students closest to this centre of unpleasantness had cold sweat on their temple.

I turned my head towards the teacher to give him an improvised excuse, but it looked like he had already written me off as casualty of his new method and paid no attention to me. No excuse came to my mind anyway. Why didn't I just go to the school nurse? If I didn't had to go to the infirmary before, I would have to afterwards though.

I gulped and reluctantly I made way towards the fuming Miura, dragging my chair with me.

With an elbow on the table her head rested on one hand. Whether she looked out of the window or at Hayama I couldn't tell.

Her mood was bad and it was inside the school, thus I remained silent. All in all it wasn't much different then to the normal procedure of this period.

The teacher cleared his throat not far-off from me, which caused me to look at him. Once eye contact was established he seemed to urge me on to talk with the lump of unhappiness next to me.

He was oddly persistent today. Regardless though, he was still the teacher.

Without looking at Miura I obeyed and started to speak to her in English.

" _Are you troubled by any chance?"_

No reaction. Okay, I tried. I did my best to convey that message to the teacher, but with a small gesture of his hand he still wanted me to continue.

He had no intention to let me off the hook unless she said something. I decided to step on her nerves as lightly as possible.

" _Did you have a fight with Hayama?"_

The head of the statue moved slightly! It didn't turn around or anything though.

" _No."_ Was the first reply of the day. I succeeded, but unfortunately my teacher had a different opinion of that.

" _I coincidentally heard that he wanted to speak about Ebina's fantasies."_

" _co...coinci..._ what?" She gave up on the word and asked me for clarification in Japanese. However, the teacher's focus remained on us, forcing me to come up with a synonym.

" _coincidentally, it means by chance. I would prefer if he didn't do that though."_

" _He's doing that for you."_ Did I hear a subtle reproachful intonation? _I was the victim here, really!_

I doubted her interpretation strongly. Not that I wasn't bothered by the fuyoshi fantasies of Ebina, but at least no one cared enough about me to make fun of that due to my low position on the social ladder.

" _Hayama is wrong to deal with it in this way."_

"Ha?!" Miura's loud voice silenced everything for a moment. She even had turned her head to me. Like the time Kawasaki said something about Hayama without praising him, it triggered Miura.

The silence didn't last long as I didn't make any follow up during this time of attention.

I received even glances of pity. There were also a few looks which said 'who was that again?'.

When everyone had returned to their business I explained it to Miura.

" _Look, if he really did it for my sake, wouldn't it appear to Ebina as him protecting me? It's bound to create many more intense fantasies inside her head."_

" _Mhhh.. that could be true."_ She said so and turned her head back into its original position.

My reasoning was accepted and I let out another sigh. I felt a glance from the side this time. For whatever reason Yuigahama gave me an apologetic look. Did she do something bad to me? I guess she felt responsible for Miura's actions as she was her friend.

The next gaze on me belonged to my teacher. Surprised that I had not been killed off he still urged me on. He seemed awfully proud of himself. This was probably the first time that every student actually talked during his class.

" _Judging from the teacher's expression there is a high possibility that this procedure will be repeated."_

" _Jush... expresh... how do you know all these difficult words? You never talk during these classes, do you?"_ I could only guess what kind of a face she made while trying to replicate these words as she still looked in the general direction of Hayama. It did interest me to be honest.

" _That's because no one wanted to talk with me. It doesn't mean I'm bad at this subject._

 _Also, judging means to asses something. Expression is what kind of look is on your face. Possibility is the chance of something to happen. Procedure is a method. To repeat is for something to happen again."_ While I was at it, I tried to explain all the important words she might have problems with in simple terms.

" _I know what repeat means."_ She said in a slightly miffed voice.

" _S-sorry."_ Ooops, got presumptuous there. It was the bad habit of a loner who wanted to show off his skill on a rare opportunity.

It didn't feel like it angered her further though. Despite her bad mood from the start there might still be some consideration towards me left inside her and I continued.

" _What I'm trying to say is, there will be a next time of this. Be ready when that time comes. Only if you want of course."_

I only had to wait a tiny amount of time for her reply.

" _What do you think I should do?"_ Miura asked sincerely for my opinion. It felt good that we came far enough for her to do so easily, But I had only wanted to improve her mood by giving her some hope. It was a totally different matter if that was even the right thing to do.

If I was even partially right about Hayama's intention of keeping Miura close to him, I would help him more than her. What if I my meddling here causes her to suffer later even more than she did now already?

Miura was about to turn her head back to me since I remained silent, before she could do that I broke the silence. Was it some kind of instinct that I didn't want her to connect a face to my doing here?

" _If you ask him before he gets into contact with anyone else, I doubt he would refuse you."_

" _Wouldn't that... be too pushy?_ " She asked me in return with a small break to think it over.

" _Isshiki has some success with that strategy."_

It was too late to back-pedal. I have to be more careful in the future to not get into such a situation again. Being meddlesome wasn't something I wanted to be.

I only wanted to help her, but would this be helpful in the end?

While I started to get lost in these thoughts, I could hear Miura growl at the mention of the student president.

A few minutes later, which she spent thinking about my suggestion, I heard her giving me gratitude in a small voice.

" _Thanks."_

Except for the time I mentioned Hayama, we hadn't looked at each other during the whole lesson. For the most part of it I was grateful, but I somehow wanted to see her face, when she struggled with the vocabulary.

* * *

I waited, with some distance from the door, outside the classroom for Yuigahama since she had told me to do that after the end of the fifth period.

The parting with her friends took some time, but it was still endurable. She exited the classroom moving her head several times to the sides till she spotted me. Was my presence so low that such excessive movement was needed? I wasn't even waiting around a corner this time.

Luckily she finally noticed it and her frown changed into a happy smile.

"Uhm, sorry about before. Yumiko being so cold and all. She's normally...uhm, outside of school, mhh.. she really is not a bad person."

There was no reason to apologise and my face didn't hide my confusion. Also, what was with the misconception of acting cold being a trait of bad persons? The way she corrected herself twice would make Miura cry if she heard it. Two times I bet.

"I don't mind." I told her and went ahead. Behind me I could hear some murmur.

"What's with the same reaction?"

So she apologised to Miura as well? _Wait girl! What would you even apologise for about me?_ I behaved as the epitome of consideration, like always. Did she mean that my normal self was reason enough to complain? Now I was about to cry.

She probably just wanted to fix a mood that didn't need fixing. It was her good intention that counted.

Before I opened the door to the clubroom my sleeve ended up stuck in something.

When I looked at that something it turned out to be two of Yuigahama's fingers.

"You... what do you plan to do with Iroha-chan tomorrow?"

Was it embarrassment or shame that coloured her face red? _Didn't anyone teach you that spying on others was bad? Probably not with that meddlesome mother._

It took her a lot of courage to ask such a question based on this state of her, thus I refrained from scolding her and gave her the only answer I had.

"I planned to think about that at home, so I have no idea yet."

Yuigahama made a complex faced that didn't know whether this reply made her happy or not.

"Hikki, you do take the dating serious, do you?" I was inquired with a stern gaze that made me cautious on my next answer. Accidentally giving off a false impression of just playing around could do irreparable damage.

"Of course I do. It's just that it didn't feel right to think about Isshiki's date for two days, when there is only one day for you in the schedule." I scratched my cheek while my eyes moved restlessly around. I wonder if I could withstand a girl's strong gaze one day.

The chuckle I heard from her made me focus on Yuigahama again, but before I could ask anything she had turned me around to face the door. A moment later a hot breath attacked my ear from behind.

"Iroha-chan was right that you are a sly one, but you know, I'm glad that you aren't like that only to her."

I wanted to voice my objection but twos hand pushed me towards the door. If I didn't want to crash into the door I had to open it. Inside the clubroom I had no chance to pick up the private talk with Yuigahama again, not with Yukinoshita around.

She would have figured out easily that Yuigahama was prying into my business with other girls. I didn't want to strain their friendship more than I had to.

There were no requests either today. It was normal for the club to have long periods without any students asking for help, but after the many requests prior to Valentine's day, all club members were eyeing the door more than usual. As if we didn't trust this peaceful time, or were secretly longing to be busy again.

Komachi was in a good mood as well when I got the shopping list from her. Whenever she looked at me she had the proud of a mother written in her eyes. It felt so wrong that I escaped quickly towards the supermarket.

* * *

"...but later when I went to the Arcade on my own, Oisuu-kun, despite telling me that he would be busy with chores when I asked him to hang out with me, enjoyed himself with Ninomiya-kun at the Karaoke joint next door. That was when I stopped inviting people to spend time with me." [2]

I had just finished another story of my horrible time in middle school, when Miura and I reached our parting spot.

Time out.

I had told her yesterday about my dating plans, thinking that she could help me out when I was stuck. Unfortunately, I had failed to ask her for help directly yesterday. I was cautious during our whole talk to jump at any chance to bring that subject up, but Miura never mentioned it. I doubted she had no interest in my dating matter at all. Yuigahama once told me that Miura loved those kinds of stories. It was more likely that she completely ignored it because it was Isshiki's turn.

It didn't mean that we barely talked today. Like the previous times I had told about my past while she listened and asked questions. It was a pleasurable time for me even if I didn't accomplished my goal. The dating topic wasn't the only thing that wasn't mentioned at all. Today's oral communications class wasn't brought up as well. Was she still in a bad mood because Hayama spent that time with Ebina?

Or did she separate school and shopping completely after my refusal to participate in her group?

I came to terms with overstepping my boundaries when it came to Yukinoshita, we were dating after all, but it was an entirely different matter with Miura.

I got nervous thinking about these things, but it was comforting that our parting included waving at each other as well today.

At home, after the cooking lessons, it was time to think about tomorrow's date with Isshiki.

For that reason I browsed through the many dating ideas I made in my past. Looking at those I couldn't deny my sister's evaluation of me being a dreamer. All those ideas were unrealistic. At least for a high school student. In itself these ideas were fine. Very romantic, a bit cliché-ridden, but they didn't take one of the most crucial things into consideration. Money.

Even without the help of my recent maths studies I knew that it wasn't doable, considering the amount of dates ahead of me.

It took me the whole evening to tone down one idea that fitted Isshiki to a feasible level.

Despite my anxiety about tomorrow I fell easily asleep thanks to the mental exhaustion.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

 _Wasted. What an opportunity I let pass._

It was already late in the evening as I thought this while being in my bed.

I could have spend a whole period alone with Hayato, receiving his full attention. At first I blamed Hikio for being part of the fantasy, then Ebina for having such fantasies to begin with. But in the end I could only blame myself. I should have declared my will to be his partner earlier, just like Hikio suggested afterwards. That was something _I_ should have done, it was something I was capable to do and that is why I had to blame myself.

But there will be a next time. Next time I will act for sure. If Hikio was right about his hunch that is.

Hikio, he was my second regret of this day.

Because of my bad mood I was colder to him than I wanted to. I was no different than those old classmates of his. Even knowing his sad past I couldn't control my temper.

He even tried to make the oral communications class a normal period, something he hadn't experienced so far in class F. I destroyed that chance for him.

And yet he had helped me again by coming up with his suggestion. What does he think when he does all that? I still couldn't tell.

Hikio was weird and full of surprises. It was just today that I learned about him not being a bad student. He didn't participate in the lessons so it was natural to think like that, wasn't it?

His pronunciation was like from an exercise CD and his explanations were easy to understand, even without translating them to Japanese.

Just how good was he really? He hasn't said that.

It didn't feel all to different from Hayato's level. Well, there was one difference. Hayato's explanations were more complicated, so his knowledge must be a bit better.

As expected of my Hayato.

I chuckled into my pillow, hugging it as if it was him.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

I barely made it on time for the short homeroom, but in hindsight I should have skipped it. My head had been filled with fantasies about today's date, but it was then, when reality pulled me back to earth. I was prepared for it to happen this year again, but why did it have to be now?

Every student got a printout to hide the fact who of the students had to attend to supplementary lessons. I knew the drill already from last year.

The printouts were basically just a bureaucratic formality, as most students weren't able to hide their feelings when they received them. The teachers were fully aware of that, but played along regardless.

I was one of the few exceptions who could maintain a neutral expression. A splendid poker face, I was Buddha.

That was all in vain though as Hiratsuka-sensei shot me a deeply disappointed glare. I could already guess which subject was responsible for this. However, Hiratsuka-sensei should have known that too. After all she was the only teacher who actually cared about my grades enough to knew them all.

Luckily no one would pay attention to her when she was at my desk. As if a flashbang had been gone off at my seat, the other students averted their faces as I was too radiant to be looked at. At least I hoped so.

Kawasaki was one of the few exceptions who showed no reaction. Her case was probably different from mine though. Despite her aura of delinquency she was actually a try-hard student. It would have been a real surprise if she had actually to do make-up tests. Since disappointment was ruled out, the only other reaction could have been joy. But she only revealed that sight when it came to Keika or that insect. A motherly brocon from head to toe.

Thus she her face was as neutral as mine.

Yuigahama on the other hand was... dead. There was just a gloomy corpse sitting on her chair with the torso sprawled on her table.

I quickly moved my gaze away from her and saw that Miura had a tiny smile on her face as she inspected the handout. Since it was the first sign that not everything was bad on this day, I checked the printout again to know when I had to go to the staffroom.

During the break after the third period I was inside the teachers' lounge as ordered.

I looked through the supplementary worksheets that Hiratsuka-sensei had given me. It didn't look too much different from last year, for that I felt relieved.

"Any problems Hikigaya?"

"None, sensei." I immediately replied to her.

She relaxed upon my answer and leaned against the back of her chair.

"You know, I thought we could avoid _that_ this year. Has the time in the Service Club not taught you to take life more seriously?"

I looked at _that_ , the papers for math, while she took out a Seven Stars from her breast pocket.[3] Compared to the time when she had put me into the Service Club, there were now single threads visibly standing out. Her suit had been strained too much by package of cigarettes and her bust. Did that mean they sold bigger packages now?

It couldn't be that her breasts were still developing even at her age.

Since I feared that the pocket would burst any moment, I had no choice but to look at the supplementary worksheets.

"I do. In fact I have started to study for math, it was just after the exams however." I could only hope that my teacher for math didn't overhear my bold statement of not having studied before.

"Is that true? I'll trust your words."

"Of course it's true." I nodded at her with a wry smile.

Rather than trusting someone's honesty, the sentence Hiratsuka-sensei used was only binding me to my words. Now I could not slack off anymore or I would betray her. How mean of my teacher to exploit her student's personality.

"I'm glad to hear that." That follow-up was the final seal on the deal. "It would be a shame if an university accepted you for your liberal arts and you had to decline because of repeating a year. That would be the first time I see that. You really are a special case."

Hearing her say that I couldn't stop me from making a twisted grin.

"Please say 'unique' sensei."

"That wasn't a praise." Her icy voice shot me down before I could really take off.

In a reflex I lowered my head, so I couldn't see her expression when she sighed.

"By the way, did they accept your plan?"

My thoughts travelled back to the ramen shop and my neck started to hurt.

"It starts today Shi.. Hiratsuka-sensei." She was too good at wiring a conditional reflex into to me that it nearly backfired. Tsurumi-sensei even had looked over to us.

My modern Japanese teacher just played it over by continuing our conversation.

"With whom?"

"Isshiki" I replied meekly.

The cigarette nearly fell out of her mouth. It was balancing only on one lip. When it seemed to have lost its balance, Hiratsuka-sensei came back to her senses and removed it from her mouth.

She took a deep breath.

"You two getting along with each other never stops to surprise me. So you like the younger ones more?"

As if she had just noticed that she brought up the taboo theme herself, her whole mood drifted towards a dark melancholy. I tried my best to stop her on that path.

"I wouldn't say young per se. After all, you see, the younger the people are, the narrower is their preferred age gap. So of course I like my partner to be _young_ as well." I took a look around to assure myself that no one would hear us and added "In my case that narrow range would go from Komachi up to someone as young as you, sensei."

Naturally, there was no way a teacher would go on a date with a student in real life. That was why I could try to cheer her up by giving her such a compliment.

But when I saw the sparkling eyes of hers, I doubted my natural assumption. In fact we had gone on a date already. However, that was just as a fake couple to a ramen shop.

While I was already on the verge of imagining our future together, she finally snapped out of her overly spirited state.

"How mean of you Hikigaya, you would use such a scenario as an excuse whenever the others steal too much of your free time, right?"

As expected, I could trust my teacher to find a way out. No, I could trust this person. Thus I took a bold step forward for a tease.

I could feel how my face turned into a smile I hadn't shown before, or at least for a very long time.

"Aren't you decreasing my options too much, sensei?"

Some muscles started to hurt as sign that they haven't been used for a long time, but I upheld it long enough till she gave me her reply.

"I can only safely increase your options after I have corrected that personality of yours."

Her answer wasn't spoken directly to my face as she had averted her head sometimes in between my question and her reply. I could see a faint, pink blush on the cheek that was visible from my position.

"I'll be in your care then, sensei."

She only gave me a short grumble as sign of understanding. I put the supplementary worksheets in my bag and headed for the door.

"Hikigaya" My hand was already on the doorknob when she called out to me.

"Yes, sensei?" I turned around to see whether there was more she wanted to say.

"Good luck.

I nodded to her and felt it was a pity that I couldn't call her Shizuka with all the other teachers around.

"Thank you, Hiratsuka-sensei."

Before I closed the door behind me, I could hear her rustling in her breast pocket.  
I didn't smoke myself, but I knew that people tend to do it to calm themselves down.

 _Sorry for being such a problematic student_ I thought in my head.

* * *

After the rest of the classes were done, I walked towards the student council room.

On the way there I met the vice-president and since we had seen each other quite often by now we gave each other a nod that recognised the other's existence.

He even started a conversation with me. I don't remember ever raising a flag with him though. Creepy.

"Are you here to help us out again?"

I shook my head without losing my composure from the sudden talk. He did date the secretary after all.

"I just wanted to inform Isshiki about a private matter. Is there a problem?" Isshiki had not said anything the last time I was with her.

"It's nothing serious. We were too lax recently because there weren't any events. But even when there was not much to do, things have piled up when going home early too often. However, they need to be finished soon."

I see, so a sudden deadline appeared.

"Will you manage it?"

He gave me a confirming nod to my question.

"There shouldn't be any problem, but we'll actually have to stay the normal time today."

So nothing that interfered with my plans. Just to be sure that it stayed that way I offered my help.

"I see. If it gets out of hand though you can call me over."

"Thank you, I hope that won't be needed though."

As soon as we opened the door I heard Isshiki calling out to me.

"Seeenpai! Let's go!" Her lips were smiling, but her face had 'I don't want to wooork, deadlines are scaryyyy' written all over it.

She sure was right about it, but hearing that Secretary-chan started to panic with her eyes wandering over the piles of papers on every desk.

"I just wanted to inform you that we meet 17:30 at Chiba Station."

Having said my bit, I immediately left the room. That was harder than usual though. The student council president held one of my arms with both hands and screamed a long 'noooooo'. I used all my strength to go through the door, but she didn't release her grip, with her feet sliding on the ground as I dragged her with me.

Next to the door I gave up and made sure that no one was listening into our conversation.

"After the club is over I come and check up on you, but we still meet 17:30 at Chiba Station for the date. I have to do my shopping duty for my family before, so I couldn't go immediately anyway." I patted her head and endured her teary eyes. "So keep doing your best as my sister will soon go to this school."

Isshiki finally released my arm, mumbling in a quiet voice.

"There is no way for an objection if you say it like that. You're so unfair."

I smiled wryly at her.

"You can complain about that senpai later all you want." I said like it had nothing to do with me.

With that I went for the Service Club finally.

I couldn't read much during our club activities though, as I found myself often staring at the door. That the other two members kept snickering all the time at my behaviour, didn't help either.

After the club activities were over, I fulfilled my promised and dropped by the student council room. Isshiki was in a bad mood from all the work. Oh joy.

I had to prove today that I was rightfully claiming to be good at dealing with problems.

17:30.

Until then I had to make a new dating plan.

Deadlines are really scaryyyyy.

* * *

Even with the actual date with Isshiki being today, Miura didn't mention it at all. I was still too unsure whether I could ask her myself without an opener. She and Isshiki weren't exactly on good terms after all.

Thus I had no choice but to tell more of my stories. The climax of the tale came shortly before our parting spot.

"Even though it hadn't been long after graduating from middle school, Oofuna-kun couldn't remember my name anymore. 'Hi-Hiki... meh screw it.' He gave up just like that." [4]

Her reactions this time were not as many and not as energetic as before, but she still listened.

Well, it wasn't the most interesting story to begin with.

Shortly after, we parted making this another failure to get her on board. I knew that I wanted her help, but I was still reluctant to step over the boundary myself. Thanks to the gap from inside and outside of school I had no clue where the boundary even remotely was located.

Just what were we to each other?

However, I had no time to think about that right now. Isshiki's date would be soon. Afterwards the one with Yuigahama was already waiting in line. It didn't look like I had any time in the near future to think about Miura. The only thing I knew for sure, without spending a single thought on it, that we tolerated the other's existence close to ourselves. Mhh that didn't seem correct, it was more than just tolerating. It was something like... Crap!

I really didn't have time for that with the deadline coming closer.

I unloaded the food at home and told Komachi that I was going to the date with Isshiki.

Apparently I had yet to mention that it was supposed to be today. She got all worked up and reminded me to take the photo along with me. I could only calm her down after promising to tell her everything when I returned.

With the photo in the pocket of my coat I was on my way to Chiba Station.

* * *

Like always to appointments of this sort I was early and Isshiki was late. Not as much as on the training date with her though. Still, my mind couldn't turn off the _Irohasu, you're sooo slow_. from repeating in an endless loop while I waited.

I saw her lightly jogging towards me as if she had hurried all the way, but there was no heavy breathing nor any colour on her cheeks that gave away signs of a serious physical effort.

Today she wore nearly the same clothes as on the training date. The fur scarf wasn't on her and the coat wasn't as tightly zipped. Well, it got a bit warmer recently. The short, plated skirt was worn again. Did she noticed how it cost me so many points during the table tennis match? Just thinking back to it made me blush a little. It was such a tease during our game.

"So where are we going senpai?" She asked cheerfully, seemingly pleased from my reaction to her outfit.

We walked side by side without any touching. It wasn't very couple-like, but we weren't a couple either, so it was the right distance.

"It's a secret." I replied.

I did come up with a second plan in case Isshiki was still in a bad mood.  
As long as I wasn't sure of that, I couldn't give her a clear answer in the case I had to change my mind on our destination.

It didn't take long to figure out that she was still angry at whatever happened at the student council. Isshiki went on and on with her complaints.

I scrapped my original plan and decided to use the backup I came up with. It was a risky move, but I was somewhat confident after her reactions to the table tennis match on the training date.

It was going to take a while to get there, since there were none of _them_ around Chiba Station.

With nothing else to do I half-heartedly listened to her complaints.

"Even with this being our special day, vice-president didn't let me go."

Everyone was powerless in front of deadlines.

"I see." It wasn't the best reply, but since I knew the situation from the vice-president it wasn't all that interesting.

"He gave me a bigger pile of papers than to the Secretary too!"

Wasn't it natural for the one in charge to have the biggest pile? Those bosses needed to stamp them after their underlings worked so hard to compile those papers. What little I knew about the vice-president was that he most likely had the most workload.

"Mmhhmm." I looked out the window of the train that we were riding. _Train-chan, sooooo slow._

"He's definitely abusing his position to favour his beloved secretary!" Said the person who wanted to sneak away from work for a date.

"Ah."

"How dare they treat me like this after I gave them so much time off after the entrance exams? I even had to do the graduation ceremony farewell speech all by myself."

I was pretty sure I had helped her during the time she did it all by herself.

"Okay."

"Senpai, are you even listening?" Isshiki narrowed her eyes after my series of lacklustre responses.

"Of course I'm listening. I was just thinking so deeply about what you said that I could only say short answers though." Girls would get mad if you don't listen to them properly, so I had to make sure that I at least feign interest. Source: My sister.

Just what was she teaching me?

"Then you would have no problems telling me your thoughts, would you?" She raised an eyebrow. Isshiki was doubting me. What should I do now Komachi-sensei?

"I just thought that Hollywood might pick this story up. The battle of a loving couple, that's all the rage nowadays. They are suppressed by a tyrannical boss, who forgot the deadline. Now they have to correct that mistake and fight to exhaustion against the world's strongest enemy: work! Will the power of love overcome everything?" I might even watch that, if it had a happy end, but who could win against work? It was doomed from the start.

After I finished saying my piece, Isshiki's expression looked appalled.

"Are you trying to break up with me? Saying our love is inferior to theirs is a flawed thinking. I'm at least fifteen times cuter than the Secretary, I became the president while he only ended up as vice. As the first first-year in the history of Sobu High even. Oh, and you wouldn't lose to vice-president either, probably. In short, we're the much better couple. Don't try to sell our power of love short ever again. That won't work. I'm sorry." She spoke in a quick and monotone way that felt somehow nostalgic.

"Weren't you only bragging about yourself just now? Nothing of that showed a strong bond between us. Also, we're not a couple yet." I had to make sure she didn't get any wrong ideas here, but she skilfully ignored me.

"Oh senpai, didn't you say we had to get off the train at the next station? Come one, hurry!"

"Hey, we really aren't one yet. Are you listening?" Hello?

I couldn't remember any lesson by Komachi that dealt with me being the ignored one. The situation never arose at home after all, since my sister was practically hanging on my lips all the time. Urgh, this was not the time to be stuck in delusions, I quickly followed her through the door of the train.

* * *

When we arrived at the location, Isshiki stood there dumbfounded with her mouth agape.

"Senpai, just to make sure... You're not trying to make fun of me, are youuuu?" Her tone had a threatening ring to it. That wasn't unexpected and I had prepared myself mentally for it.

"Think of it like the time at the ramen shop. Be patient with your opinion after we're done." [5]

I went slowly ahead towards the door, behind me I heard her murmuring.

"This isn't romantic at all..."

She was right about that, but I felt this is what we both needed right now. My pace was slow so that Isshiki caught up quickly to me. Together we entered the batting centre.

The Hoshikuki batting centre was small and cheap, but it still offered enough variety to appease beginners and regulars alike.[6] Naturally I went with Isshiki towards the slowest cage.

Her dissatisfied grumbling was soon replaced with spirited shouts like 'how dare you to show off in front of me secretary!' or 'eat this ball vice-president!'.

Her cute image was blown away like the balls, whenever she managed to hit one. The people in the neighbouring cage looked afraid being only separated by a thin fence to the raging student council president.

However, I was happy to see that Isshiki seemed so immersed in the date activity that she forgot to maintain her public image. Whenever she showed her honest side like this, I felt the closest with her. Delicate sport wasn't her forte though and to cover that up she occasionally showed her sly fake acts. I saw right through them of course, but I couldn't see _them_ at all.

Sometimes when a ball passed by her, she would plop on the ground three seconds later. _What's with the obviously late reaction? Was that supposed to be cute?_

When she dropped down, the skirt made a seductive movement, pretending to go up enough to let me see the panties. No matter how carefully I looked though, I couldn't even tell the colour. How was this even possible? Isshiki proved to be a professional at teasing once more.

We stayed longer at the batting centre than I thought as Isshiki had a huge amount of stamina. I should have known that. At the trip to Destinyland she even managed to outlast Miura, who played tennis on a prefectural level in middle school.

However, the moment we had exited Hoshikuki, I felt her tugging my sleeve.

"Please... hold me senpai, I'm sooo tired." Her lips trembled slightly when she looked at me with half open eyes.

"Really?" I had my doubts, but nonetheless I extended my hand to hold hers. What if her claim was true? I would be the worst guy if I didn't do at least this much. It had nothing to do with her charming me with her glossy lips, the reddened cheeks from swinging the bat over and over or the sweet, weak voice she asked me with.

When she noticed my agreement to hold hands, her corners of the mouth turned upwards and she linked her arm with mine before grabbing my hand.

Damn, was she good at playing with me.

"Really, I'm starting to doubt whether you have never dated before. Once more I'm surprised to feel so good after one of your weird suggestions." Venting off her stress with physical activity did a miraculous change for her mood. No matter how unjustified her anger towards the other members of the student council was, it was real and had to be dealt with accordingly.

"Help me, I'm seduced by my sly senpai." She said while snuggling her head against me.

Who was the sly one here? Luckily she wouldn't be able to hear my racing heart with her ear pressed on my arm.

"I-I'm glad you liked it." I was able to stutter that somehow.

"You know, I'm really curious here. How did you decide on a batting centre?" She didn't drop the topic.

Isshiki was so close, smelled so good, smiled so nicely and held me so tightly, that my head got dizzy. It was not a panic like with Haruno, but it was merely three steps before that. To be honest, more like hundred steps, Haruno was on an entirely different level.

Still, I needed to unload a bucket of cold water on this situation to not get swept along with her momentum.

"I picked it because it was cheap." I tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

She took a step back to look at me with a frown, but the president didn't let go of my hand. That was fine, I could manage that much.

"Really senpai, I can't believe you. To say that on a date is so low."

"Says the person who didn't want to spend even 130 yen on Valentine chocolate." I inflated my cheeks not due to the low price tag, but because I was denied Max Coffee chocolate.

"Geez, it's embarrassing if you remember every little thing I said. Just how much are you into me? Tee-hee." The way she interpreted things was astonishing, but thanks to her laugh I was able to let it slide. It was an ironical laugh, wasn't it?

"So now tell me the real reason." My date demanded from me with a half smiling, half stern look. She totally didn't buy my first answer at all huh?

"It's not like it was wrong. I might have several dates in the near future and I will need money after that as well."

The half smiling part vanished from her face and so I quickly went on with my reply.

"You wouldn't stay with me if I ended up being broke, right"

"What are you taking me foooor? Ahh, but I don't think I can really rule that out completely."

I ignored her comeback and the nudge into my side.

"You also seemed to have too much on your mind for a date, thus I switched plans quickly." With this my answer to her question was complete.

Her blinking of the eyes out of surprise gave off the image of an innocent fawn. An urge to protect her rose in me, but why was she surprised in the first place? It was not like I never did that before.

"You actually thought seriously about this, didn't you?" She lowered her gaze to the ground. "To be honest I didn't think you would put in much effort for me when you have Yukinoshita-senpai and Yui senpai already."

"Well, the dating is for gathering experience after all. I would only hurt myself if I didn't put everything I had in me into it. But even if it weren't the case, I did call you a special person to me, didn't I?" My sympathy for Isshiki was high in that moment, but it was gone with her next mumbling in a barely audible voice.

"In that case I might go after you for real as well."

No. Go away! That sly fox. But honestly you're closer than before, step back. My attempts to free my arm were in vain.

"That makes me wonder, what was your initial plan for today senpai?"

"I'm not going to tell you." I was a bit miffed there after her earlier comment.

Isshiki then squeezed my hand softly and changed her question.

"Then tell me at least where we are going to now."

This I could answer as it would be obvious in a few minutes anyway.

"The port."

* * *

It wasn't that far from the Hoshikuki batting centre to the big port of Chiba.

We ambled along the pier, as the setting sun coloured Tokyo Bay in a warm red.

Although I wasn't responsible for the clear sky, nor the sun, I still felt somewhat proud that this plan of mine worked out like I had imagined it.

It worked even better than expected. After half an hour Isshiki had picked up the topic of my dating goals.

"What do you actually want to achieve with all this senpai? I didn't hear everything clearly back then."

"So you were eavesdropping after all!" She was participating and didn't even know that? But I was sure that I mentioned that to her earlier today."It's like I told you, I want to gather experience."

"Yeah I know that, but for what?"

"I need it to achieve something genuine for myself." There was no issue telling her that as she knew about that term already. She was eavesdropping too much on me. "I feel that this is the path to get me there, but I'm not sure of the details yet." Isshiki's genuine thing she mentioned after the visit to Destinyland was probably different from mine, thus I wasn't sure she would understand.

I remained unsure of her understanding as she suddenly changed the topic.

"Senpai, on which date do you think it is okay to kiss?"

Isshiki pulled on my arm to stop me from walking, then she playfully hopped in front of me. My eyes followed her dance-like steps. They were kind of hypnotising, and her question was confusing me on top of it. Didn't that question come a bit too early?

"After the third... I guess?" I scratched my cheek while I replied.

"You really have no experience on dating, senpai." For whatever reason she seemed dissatisfied with my answer.

"Shouldn't things like embracing come before that?" There were so many things to do before a kiss, that I found my estimation to be on the low end of the scale.

She then made a step forward which closed any distance we had before. I could hear her taking a deep breath. My head had to tilt over to look at her properly because she was so close. All I could see though, were her hair.

"We're not kids anymore." She said before lifting her head and our eyes met from a close distance.

Isshiki quickly elevated herself by only standing on tiptoe and the distance was reduced to nil nearly instantly.

Her lips were pressing on mine.

I could definitely feel the kiss besides my state of petrifaction. That state lasted only a moment though. When being talked to I would reply. Haruno's words echoed inside my head like they were mocking me. Even if Isshiki wasn't really 'talking' to me, she still used her mouth and I replied accordingly.

I moved my own lips and increased the pressure on hers softly in return.

It was a new feeling for me and I had trouble evaluating it. I had no experience in kissing, but I tried my best to do it properly.

When we separated Isshiki had a confused expression. Odd, that should have been on my face after her sneak attack on me.  
She was quick to react as always and wrapped her arms around my back, burying her face into my chest.

"You were right senpai, hugging is enough for now."

 _Then don't pull such a stunt in the first place Irohasu._

I felt the same and returned the hug with one arm while I patted her head with the free hand.

Isshiki was always a bit too rash in her approaches, but her courage deserved at least a little reward.

I couldn't sort my thoughts about the kiss yet, but Isshiki's courage was a valuable lesson for me. To ask whether it was a good kiss, I lacked that courage. Or was it a my common sense that prevented that question?

We parted once we came back to Chiba Station.

We embraced each other shortly and then I watched her walking away. After five metres though, she turned her body around again.

"Oh, normally I wouldn't have to say such a thing... but since it is you... don't forget to call me when you get home safely."

Wasn't that something the man should say?

Then she rushed away in the same manner she had approached me at the start of the date. What are you acting again for?

She was already gone from my sight when a thought crossed my mind.

Did I even have her number?

Was it really alright that I made such a forgetful person be the student council president?

During our cooking lesson I reported the date's course to Komachi. She was a good listener as always. Her hanging on my lips was no delusion after all! At least the non-physical part of it. She even clasped her hands together when I told her of the kiss.

My sister had an 'at least he tried' expression when I told her about Isshiki's reaction to the kiss. It was quite the disheartening sight considering it came from my younger sister. Not like I was really cheerful to begin with. The longer I thought about the reaction after the kiss, the more I felt devastated.

"Do you think I messed up?" I asked her what I couldn't ask my kissing partner.

"I honestly don't know.. mhh... what you described was quite the weird reaction of her." She gave it some serious thoughts from the way Komachi tilted her head.

When she noticed that I watched her intently with an expectant look she shattered my depressed mood.

"I let you know Onii-chan, I won't practice kissing with you."

"L-like I would ask you to do that." Why was I adverting my face in this situation? It only made me look guilty of thinking about that.

"But if you take responsibility by marrying me, I wouldn't mind it. My points went through the roof there!" She added in a sweet voice while blushing.

"What a tease. You know well enough that I can't afford a wedding ring right now."

If anyone else heard our exchange they would freak out, Yuigahama might even faint, but we siblings were able to chuckle it off without spending any thoughts on it.

With this my day came to an end.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

It had been a while since the last time our full group spent time together like today. Without purpose but with a lot of fun. We went to play darts in the late afternoon. What we did wasn't important as long as we did it together. I had Hayato teach me this game again, but unlike the last time he only did it vocally. However, that couldn't sour my mood all too much. Just spending time with him was enough, but I will aim for more on the next chance.

Why didn't he notice that I longed for his touches so much?

My Hayato had won most of the games. Such a capable man, there was nothing he couldn't do! I wanted to celebrate his victories close to him, but Ooka and Yamato constantly stuck to him and got in my way. These premature boys were totally annoying.

Tobe still had not given up on Ebina, but at least he paid more attention to the distance she wanted to keep.

The only one who didn't seem to be fully into our activity was Yui.  
She fiddled with her phone, constantly checked the time and her eyes were restless.  
Ebina noticed that too, but Yui said that everything was fine.

Most likely it had to do with Hikio's date with Isshiki today. I wonder how that went.

That memory made me realise that I had not written about my meeting with Hikio today into my diary. It was the first time in a while. There wasn't much to write about it.  
This was weird as the meeting didn't feel any different from usual.

I could think about that an other time though.

Today only belonged to Hayato. Not only today though, tomorrow was the oral communications class again. How could I use this chance?

* * *

Hachiman PoV

When I woke up on this Thursday morning I remembered yesterdays kiss immediately. I just realised that Isshiki had snatched away not only my first real date, but also the very first kiss of mine. My hands instinctively covered my manhood upon these thoughts. I was still half-asleep when the fear, of my foxy president taking away my virginity as well, rose within me. Luckily that was the only thing that rose in that region.

Standing up from bed this quickly was a rarity for me. I even let out a long sigh after I finally realised that I was alone in my room.

There was no reason to panic, right? Well, there was one uncertainty inside me that could explain my behaviour. Isshiki's reaction after the kiss was strange. I didn't understand it at all and it gnawed on me.

There was still the whole afternoon to think about it and the day was reserved for thoughts after the date to begin with.

I shook my head as if it let me free myself from the thoughts about the kiss, and I started my normal procedure on a school day.

Inside the classroom I noticed how Yuigahama sent me glances. During the whole morning I got easily distracted and was lost in my thoughts, thus I barely made it in time for the first period. There was no time for a talk with her. What should I tell her if she asked about the date? Should I say what we had done? Was it better to not mention the kiss?

At the first break she came over to me as expected.

Yuigahama was slightly red when she greeted me.

"Hikki?"

Or rather, she did not greet me at all. Was 'yahallo' seeing its end as a fad? It sure was unfriendly to only greet someone by the name. Everything was better than 'yahallo' though and as such I let it slide.

"Sup." I returned the greeting.

"You know, how did yesterday go?" So direct!

Yuigahama's action of nervously moving her feet like she was drawing something on the floor, didn't match the boldness of the question.

"It was okay I think."

I decided to not mention any details.

"That's a bit vague.." She wanted me to tell more. I could understand her desire, but my decision was firm.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Isshiki and Yukinoshita if they ask about our date as well."

I reasoned my decision under the pretext of fairness. Of course I didn't tell her that directly, it would sound like an accusation of her being unfair. To make sure however that even Gahama-san understood it, I added another sentence.

"I look forward to Saturday."

Her nod was a bit exaggerating but it fitted her image so well that I smiled a little.

"Me too!" Yuigahama's mood shot through the roof in an instant. _So hyped! Girl, what kind of expectations do you have?!_

And most importantly, how could I be able to match them?

The first three periods went by without anything noteworthy, but the fourth was oral communications class again. The teacher came in, bearing a basely smile already. Welcome to another round of picking on loners. He still considered the last class a success, that much was obvious. I strengthened my peripheral sight to check up on Miura. She readied her fork as soon as she took notice of it as well. Like I had predicted last time, the teacher repeated his method from Tuesday.

Instantly after his declaration the sound of chairs being pushed around were audible, among them was Miura's chair. Yuigahama's chair barely moved before she was caught by her usual partner again. His skill to ignore her defeated expression was monstrous as he was able to keep a straight smile.  
If it were me I would have started to weep if a girl I asked to stay with me displayed that behaviour.  
That was one of the reasons why I didn't ask them in the first place anymore for quite a long time. But that was a thing of the past. At least that was true for a small amount of girls, definitely not everyone.

Hayama was only halfway done with standing up, when Miura entered the striking range in his blind spot. It looked like her extended arm would push him back to sit on the chair again and thus I held my breath. I remembered how I told her to be more pushy like Isshiki, but this would be a giant leap from her usual behaviour towards him that I didn't anticipate it.  
It still was not enough to be on Isshiki's level though and I felt yesterday's kiss on my lips again.

I could see how her hand hesitated for a moment and a scream echoed through my head.

 _Go for it girl!_ I cheered her on.

The hand accelerated but it had a change in its course. Instead of direct physical contact she knocked on his desk to force his attention on her.

"Can you help me with this?" She laid some papers on his desk, probably English notes.

It was a simple question, but for someone like Hayama, who couldn't decline to help no matter what, it was the perfect trap. Miura could be pretty crafty when she wanted to or was it on instinct?

The perfection of the trap even showed on his face as he sported a troubled smile while numerous gazes of jealousy were directed on him and Miura.

Hayama was wary of those looks as his own wandered through the class and stopped at me.

I quickly closed my eyes as I was subdued by the infamous demons of sleep. With no warning! No way to defend! A full-out attack! [7]

 _Why are you looking at me in the first place? You don't have to be concerned about me in the slightest. I don't want anything from you, so buzz off._

"Uhm.. sure, sit down."

I didn't open my eyes until I heard those words from him to accept Miura's request. I wouldn't let myself be used as an escape route, nor did I want to be pitied by him ever again. My hand still became a fist whenever I thought back to the scene in Kyoto.  
Thanks to Miura's outcry last time, he was bound to be aware of whom I spent the last class with and that I got more reactions from my partner than normally. I didn't need a shining white knight though.

Miura was seemed happy and sat down at the place where Hayama had gestured her.

She glanced over to me and I had an impulse to give her a thumb up, but my hand was still a fist.

I didn't move an inch even when today's loser sat next to me. Of course the girl immediately started to fiddle with her phone. Everything was back to normal for me. The teacher's face twitched but he seemed to be okay with one lost pair of sheep.

Since I had nothing better to do, I watched the results of my questionable encouragement from Tuesday.

Miura followed her success strategy of asking for help, smiling brightly as she monopolised Hayama's attention.

That didn't escape the perception of the jealous girls next to these two.

"Can you help me with this too?" Asked one of them the always smiling Hayama, beautifully ignoring the pitiful existence of her actual partner.

Miura sent her a devastating glare, but everybody's darling accepted the request with a nod.

Others followed suit soon and it became a commotion.

"If you have question you can ask me." Was the desperate attempt of the teacher to get control of the situation.

A girl waved him off. "Isn't it better for students help each other out? That's what this class is for, isn't it sensei?"

Without waiting for his answer she joined the flock of girls around Hayama.

Even Miura was powerless against these numbers and Hayama's agreements. Her desperation grew as the situation slipped out of her hands, before she turned away in resignation. With her head held by both hands, she had a sour expression.

I ended up being in her line of sight and since I had watched them the whole time our eyes did meet.

To avert the face in such a situation would just reveal one's guiltiness and so I kept looking at her.

I couldn't shake of the feeling that her eyes transmitted some sort of expectation of me to solve her problems, but I was probably mistaken. Was there even something I could do?

Miura gave up the staring contest and I jumped at this chance to avoid it happening again by turning my head to the blackboard.

The teacher seemed really frustrated while he tried to figure out what went wrong this time. That surely was going to put an end to his experiment.

* * *

Inside the clubroom another pair of eyes stared me down.

Flaxen hair shook every time a the finger was pointed at me.

"Senpai! I can't believe you didn't call me afterwards!"

The other two clubmembers felt uncomfortable being in the same room as us, since they tried to stand away from us as far as possible. Was it because they wanted to give us some privacy? Why did it felt more like I had been abandoned then? Very mysterious.

"Uhm, he probably just didn't know better Iroha-chan." The meekly voice of Yuigahama made its way over to us. That's the mood saviour for you.

"But I explicitly told him to do so!" Was the loud reply she got and that caused Yuigahama to have a shocked face.

"Hikki! That's really low. Even for you!" No delay in the switch from defence to offence, there had to be a rule against this! Also what was with the last part?

"I get it that you are not good at talking with others face to face, but that it extends to a phone call is astonishing." Yukinoshita butted in and flipped her hair over the shoulder.

"Why are you under the false impression that a phone call would be easier to do? I'll have you know that only thirty per cent of all human communication is done with language. So a phone call excludes like 70 per cent of a conversation from the start. Unfortunately those are the 70 per cent that are a loners only forte. Thus a phone call is much harder to do." I flipped a page on my book. [8]

"Also I don't have Isshiki's number." I added in a relaxed tone. That sounded cool, even I was surprised by it. I was so cool, I got goose bumps from myself.

The president's dumbfounded look was just the cherry on the cake. Deep inside me I felt my heart celebrating the victory over Isshiki. I had no thoughts of revenge over her reaction to the kiss yesterday, but after the whole turmoil it caused inside of me, it was indeed satisfying.

"Impossible..." was the only murmur she brought forth.

"I was surprised as well when I checked my phone. After hearing your demand I thought for sure you entered your number in secret when you had held onto my phone."

She had it confiscated two times during the creation process of the free newspaper to burn the leftover money of the student council budget.[9]

"Senpai.. your image of me... it gets me really worried..." Isshiki sat down on the chair next to me and looked dejected. Had I been that mean to her?

I didn't think I was, but I still felt guilty. My hand reached out, presenting my phone to her. I just couldn't stand the sight of Isshiki being so downcast. It felt so wrong for her to be like that.

"It might be too late for it, but– " I was interrupted by some unpleasant mumbling my ears picked up.

"He fell for her again..."

"It's scary how easily she controls him.."

Yukinoshita and Yuigahama spoke with each other, but they were intensively watching me and the president.

My hand stopped and I wanted to retract it, but Isshiki was faster. After she took away my cellphone, she carried it over to the clubmembers while humming.

I looked at empty chair next to me where the pitiful Isshiki sat a moment ago. _I'm so going to sue her for abusing my Onii-sama habits!_

"Heah?!"

' _What now?'_ I thought when I turned my head to where Isshiki's voice was coming from.

She alternated her stare between my phone and Yuigahama's puzzled face.

Interested in the reason she took a peek on my display as well.

"You didn't change it?" Her face beamed when she asked me and I finally understood what it was all about.

"It was too bothersome, but I guess I really should change what you had typed in..."

"No!" Her refusal was quick and loud. It wasn't only voice that refused, but her hands shook excessively as well. "You can't do that! It's okay, don't mind it."

Isshiki's face cleared up as she understood the background story of it from the short exchange between Yuigahama and me, and she began to type her number in.

When she was done with it, she went towards me with an impish grin. I had a bad feeling about this, but then some motion behind Isshiki caught my attention.

Yukinoshita's arm moved halfway up into the air towards Isshiki, before it dropped down again. Her eyes stayed fixated on my phone as it was carried further away from her.

Before the student council president had reached me, my cellphone was snatched away from her. Yuigahama hurried back with it to the club president.

She reached it out to her with both hands and a smile. _Woof!_ I imagined how Yuigahama waved her tail in anticipation of a pat on her head. She really was a dog person.

"Thank you." At least I guessed that she said this from watching her mouths. The sound didn't carry over to me. It was unlikely that even Isshiki could hear it as it was spoken so quietly.

Yukinoshita took the offered phone, albeit reluctantly, and pressed a few times on it.

Her eyes widened and were glued to the display. Did she have problems operating it? It looked to me like she swiftly made her way through the menu from the few touches though.

The next thing I saw would probably remain a once in a lifetime experience, Yukinoshita's eyes turned blank. _What? Did the genius encounter a problem she couldn't solve?_

I imagined how smoke came from her head, even Yuigahama looked worriedly at her.

Then the club president squinted her eyes and hammered something into my phone.

 _Oi, be careful with other people's property! Can she even see something with the eyes closed?_

A brief sigh came out of her mouth when she was done and she handed the phone back to Yuigahama who carried it to me.

"Here you go."

I immediately checked what they had done, the uneasy feeling I had, when the phone was still in Isshiki's possession, never left me.

✯YUI✯ [11]

That much I knew already.

Directly under it a new name appeared though that made me break out in sweat.

❤Ihora❤ [12]

I made a wry smile towards Isshiki, who looked very pleased with herself.

The last name in the list was also new.

Yukinoshita Yukino

So formal, it really fitted her. I tried to make eye contact to show her my approval of the decision her inner conflict at arrived at. However, her averted face didn't turn to me.

My attention was back to the display of my phone.

Compared to the time before I was forced to enter the Service Club, my contact list wasn't even half as long as it was today. It visually showed me how much my life had changed since then. Komachi's words replayed in my head about how my eyes had changed slightly as well. She was right, I had checked it in the bathroom mirror after all, but I couldn't accept it yet. Not the part about the eyes, but a change of myself.

But I couldn't deny that a lot has happened. I ignored the feeling of my lips which tried to remind me of what happened just yesterday and forced my attention back to the contact list. It was probably time to move Haruno and Zaimokuza from the call history into the list as well.

 _Just what was I ready to do, to escape that irritating feeling on my lips?_ I questioned myself.

* * *

"... Not remembering people from my middle school makes me somewhat apologetic. Like the student council. They were probably good people. As long as I don't remember them, they didn't do anything bad to me after all." [10]

"Don't you remember at least one guy, who did, like, something good to you?"

"I don't think so. After all, people remember only the bad things."

"I think it was the other way around..." Miura said with a wry smile.

Another bait I laid out failed. I even mentioned the term 'student council', but she didn't pick it up to ask how the date went with our current student council president. Was that unknown to her as well like the one in middle school was to me? Impossible, she was there at the Christmas and Valentine event after all! Even at the marathon run, Isshiki fulfilled her duty.

It was more likely that she simply completely tried to ignore her existence.

I couldn't do anything but to accept another defeat.

We separated at the usual spot, but unlike normally I simply couldn't calm down my thoughts.

I should be happy about being alone, but whenever I was today, I couldn't think of anything else than that kiss and Isshiki's reaction. If I didn't find an explanation for that soon, I had no doubt that it could drive me towards insanity.

How could such a little thing throw me into disarray?

If I couldn't ask Miura, who could I ask then? Komachi had no clue yesterday as well. Unwillingly her joke about kissing practice surfaced. I could see Haruno actually pulling such a stunt if I inquired her for an opinion. Hiratsuka-sensei... I wasn't that mean to delve into her long gone past. Seriously, someone should take her already.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The only thing that worked out properly was the cooking lesson with Komachi. Thanks to her my mind was distracted from my ordeal. The studying and reading session failed horribly thanks to the nagging thoughts and the lingering feeling on my lips. I just wanted to sleep and be done with this day.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

The diary was filled with so many angry sentences today that just looking at them made me depressed. It even started so good! We were together, Hayato and I. His smile only belonged to me. Unfortunately just for a short while. Suddenly so many girls came out of nowhere and ruined everything.

I grabbed my head with both hands ruining my hair in the process.

Just why was making him mine so difficult? My strategy worked good, but it did backfire at some point. He was just too nice to everyone. And those girls abused that shamelessly.

Will such a chance will ever come again? The teacher looked as he was as fed up as me.  
Just because of those girls everyone else had to suffer too.  
Yui still hadn't grabbed that chance either to spend that class with Hikio. Why is there always someone in everyone's way?  
Hikio totally wouldn't have to look this lifeless if she managed to get away from her desk neighbour as well.

I couldn't figure out what he was thinking at all when we looked at each other. Somehow, that was like normal though. Did his date go well? I would have loved to ask him about that, but all he did was talking about his past again. It was great and all that he did it, more so than most of my friends. But somehow that didn't feel enough for me. Why was that? It deeply irritated me. I didn't write anything about him in the diary yet either today. I had been focused on venting my frustration from the class first and then I lost all will to write more.

I let out a long sigh and closed the diary.

That was enough for a day. I better put it out of my sight, or my mood would have like no chance at all to change. I felt frustrated at Hikio for some reason as well, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Nothing good would come out if I wrote about him with this feeling, I would just regret it.

I looked at the clock.

Still a lot of time till it was time to sleep. I won't even be able to think about Hayato like this. What a frustrating day, and no way to end it. What to do...?

My gaze fell onto a small box.

Mhhh, yes I could practice my hobby today.

* * *

[1] The class/time was mentioned in V3.

[2] The story wasn't any longer than that in V4 either.

[3] Cigarette brand mentioned in V1.

[4] This past event was in V3.

[5] They went to a ramen shop together in V10.5

[6] I researched that batting centre.

[7] Lucky Star episode 15

[8] These are the numbers used when he spied on Tobe, Ooka and Yamato during the spam mail incident

[9] V10.5

[10] V9

[11] Yui entered her name into Hachiman's phone like this in the LN: (white star)(Black star)YUI(Black star)(white star), but I couldn't find other star symbols that were accepted by this site.

[12] similar to [11], imagine that this is (white heart)(black heart)Iroha(black heart)(white heart)

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **This took longer than anticipated and it had two reasons. 1. I was very busy, rarely even had a lone hour late in the evening, but that is over. 2. I lately read Web Novels on the way to work on my tablet. When I was done with the chapter I noticed that it greatly influenced and reduced the quality of my writing for this story. (WNs tend to have low quality translations, and the original writing is often not the best either.) I basically had to rewrite the whole chapter. I will check if previous chapters suffered the same fate at some point, but that will only happen after ch7.**

 **This chapter was less Yumiko-centric for two purposes. 1. Hachiman should progress/learn from others as well. 2. The stagnancy between Hachiman and Yumiko was needed to make her at least question whether she is satisfied by what Hachiman currently offers to her. Even if she was unable to find the answer in this chapter. The stagnancy will stop here as development (and there will be a lot of it) is much more fun to write (and hopefully to read as well).**

 **The next chapter will be a 4-day issue thanks for the 'free' day between Yui's and Yukino's date. This will of course increase the time needed to write it, but on the other hand I have way more time now to actually write. Overall it should be way quicker than this one.**

 **Now for the reviews, and wow there had been a lot on the last chapter. As always I will address those with issues or questions.**

 **AnimeloverQ8** I'm sorry but such information about the future of the story, I won't share. This and similar questions might lead to important spoilers. I have to protect the fun to find it out for everyone else after all.

 **wildarms13** I'm sorry, the same answer as to AnimeloverQ8 applies here.

 **fluffpenguin** I cannot answer the Haruno question, see the replies above. I will explain the Hayama x Hachiman relationship partly in the story and in detail outside of it at a fitting point. Not everything about it would be natural for someone to say it directly to an other person and requires more like an analysing approach.

 **Guest** There will be always differences in the interpretation of characters, I try my best to convey mine as good as possible. I'm glad that you find some entertainment in it, despite it not going along your interpretation.

 **BlackPsych** Oh, you want to know who watched them? Too bad! I can only direct you to the reply of AnimeloverQ8, but keep speculating, it's fun for me to read that.

 **jam99chgo** I have the same feeling about a lot of stories I read. It's only natural that not everyone stays until the end because of things that bug them. As for you finding Hachiman to be not in his character, I could only say the same to you as I did to Guest already.

 **NirvanaFrk97** Thank you for the hint, since another reviewer said the same thing about being to formal, I will put it on my to check list after ch7 and fix it if necessary. For this chapter I already kept an eye on it on direct speech. The diary parts will stay a bit more formal than her direct speech though. It seems more natural to me that one puts a bit more effort into writing/thinking about what to write and thinking about what was already written, which raises the quality of the usage of language.

 **Akira9393** You mean the Kyoto trip with the Ebina/Tobe-request? I don't think there is a need for it. Yumiko herself moved past that point of preserving the group at any cost and actively tries to conquer Hayama since V10 already. And The whole incident is a dark memory for Hachiman. He fought with its consequences a great part of V8. Given these facts from both parties, it would be unnatural to bring it up again.

 **The Sixth Day of Division** NirvanaFrk97 pointed that out too, please see the reply for him on the being formal issue. I like the transparency of this reply method. In my opinion it's worth the decrease in speed of the reply, but to each their own. As for the diary parts, I always have problems getting into them. Yumiko simply doesn't 'think' in the LN. Like I said to NirvanaFrk97 I have the impression that a heavy youth speech user liker Yumiko (in the JP version at least) will think slightly bit more formal when she is about to bring something to paper, or thinks about it afterwards. I tried to break 'essay'-like impressions by making it a bit more 'jumpy'. Suddenly picking up a previous thought. I might have a revelation about the diary part and rewrite them all in the future when I find a good style for them. It's a point that will definitely stay on my mind.

 **Reborn as a Hot Spring** The comment on the length was not that serious! I was simply completely drained after reading it again and again and running various spell checkers through it. The urge to comment on that pain was too strong, not to do it.

 **Flash Falcon** She was a bit upset, but he changed the order of his explanation for her that it settled quickly. As for romance, she still is in the state of only seeing Hayama. Like I said in the A/N, the next chapter will see a lot of development though.

 **Soni** The LN doesn't directly mention something in which he is better than Hayama. Even without being 'better' than Hayama in things like Japanese or playing an instrument, Hachiman is a good guy with lots of qualities. He only lost by 1 rank to him in Japanese anyhow and even if he can't play an instrument, his personality makes up for it. There is a lot to love about him. Don't give up Hachiman!

 **MSalih** Flattery won't make the chapters coming faster, as I have to obey the overlord that is work completely, but it was a really potent try! Thank you.

 **GioM. Meow** Thanks for the compliment on the writing. Hopefully you'll find a fic more to your taste. Considering Hachiman's past, dating seems like a huge deal to him. It took him eleven Volumes after all to accept going on dates.

 **Verno SSS** It is what I advertised in the tags and description, I won't change anything of it later. So yes, it is about Yumiko and Hachiman with Romance and Drama. Considering where it is coming from, it indeed takes time to get there.

 **grecefar2** The tags really give away a bit, but it's the journey that's important right? The story is already completely planned so there won't be no surprise changes in the tags. As for the not dropping, I intend to finish this. After all I have one more story and one one-shot that are planned through and ready to be written. And two more stories that are halfway done in the planning phase. But this fic ends first, before I do anything else with them. I have a really good feeling about all four of them already though.

 **If there is something you want to ask about, just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 7 again.**


	7. Can this even be called skipping a beat?

I tried to recall the details of the nightmare that had caused my messy state this morning. Nightmare might be a bit too much to say as there weren't any abstract monsters, gross displays of gore, or psychotic behaviour in the dream, which would hint at an influence of a recently watched horror movie or grave mental issues.

Not to say it was free of other irritating behaviour, I couldn't exactly deny a strong emotional disturbance either.

I relived the date with Isshiki in my dream. That much should be normal, it was my first date after all. However, the kiss became an endless loop and denied me a relaxing slumber.  
How she dancingly positioned herself in front of me, our dialogue, how the distance between us vanished into nothingness, and then the pressure on my lips I had felt.. Everything was exactly as in my memory. I was fine with that much, but of course it didn't stop there. Her confused face afterwards was creating the emotional unrest within me, the sweat I woke up with and the bad mental aftertaste I felt this morning.

Isshiki's reaction had such an impact on me.

It wasn't enough, that the kiss with Isshiki tormented me through the day, now it haunted me even during my sleep.

I could only hope for it to stop once I decrypted this enigmatic behaviour.  
This Herculean task proved to be too much for myself though and even my socially reliable sister had faltered before this riddle.

If only I had it in me to freely consult Miura, but that step was still too huge for me. It wouldn't be a problem if it came up naturally, heck, I was ready to jump at any slim chance that would present itself by now.

Life had yet to show me such kindness though, it remained bitter through and through.

It wasn't her confused face alone that made it so hard to bear, ' You were right senpai, hugging is enough for now.' echoed mockingly through my head and had a equally strong impact on me.

Couldn't she have just shown a consequently reaction, like a disgusted face and keeping a certain distance, or a happy one before she hugged me as tightly as she did?

Was it really too much to ask for my first kiss to be normal?

A loud rumble echoed through my room as if to say that I shouldn't question the way of the world. I was denied happiness from the get-go by the world itself.

On closer inspection it was my stomach that cried out for food. Hopefully it wasn't an indigestion caused by the torture I went through last night. I was not allowed to die yet, my sister loved me too much for a bad end to interrupt our route.

Komachi made an appalled face that caught me off guard when I entered the living room.

"Wh-what is it?" I asked as I suppressed the doubt whether my sister really loved me as much as I thought she did.

"Oh it's you. Don't give me such a scare onii-chan." She rolled her eyes and went towards the kitchen.

"Silly sister, who did you expect it would be? Our parents should have left for work already."

Things like these really made me worry about this idiot's future.

"I know that! It's just that you looked so terrible when you came that I wanted it to be someone else." called an upset voice out to me from the kitchen.

The one who should be upset was me right now. So rude.

"Is that another jab at my eyes? Even when you recently told me that they weren't that bad anymore, urgh. Oh my, did you lie to me? I guess it can't be helped since you are a girl and all." So girls gave out fake compliments to get the information they wanted. Another valuable lesson learned from my family.

"Gomii-chan, when you speak about girls like that, it really makes me worry about your future." Huh? This sounded really familiar.

"Isn't it yours and pop's fault for feeding me with all these unnecessary information about them?"

An icy wind came out of the kitchen that made my blood freeze in my veins. "He should really stop talking with you. Or better yet, Stop. Talking. At. All."

Whoah, that came out of nowhere. What did you do now father? That was way over the normal level of coldness from Komachi towards him. It was better to change the direction of the talk before one of those infamous family tragedies occurred that would show up in the news.

"Don't leave yourself out of it so naturally, Missy. You certainly have your fair share in it."

Her head with half open eyes peeked out from the kitchen with 'what are you talking about?' written all over the face.

"Ah? What I do is totally different. Like I said, I only destroy the illusions of yours.."

And like I thought back then as well. I certainly didn't need this kind of imagine breaker.[1]

Oblivious to my thoughts my sister continued.

"...while he simply badmouths everything."

I didn't really saw the difference there as I certainly received similar damage from each of them.

Something else bothered me more at this moment though.

"Anyway, did mom not prepare breakfast for me today?" She couldn't have forgotten her own son completely now, right? The birthday cake incident left behind a huge scar on my heart.

"About that, I ate it already." There was absolutely no hint of remorse in her voice.

Mentally, I fell on my knees as I was dealt such a critical blow. The food wasn't really an issue. I was not like those shounen heroes who had to eat a mountain of food at every possible moment. The issue was my sister turning against me. Of course I knew that the time when a little sister abandoned and stopped taking care of everything for her onii-sama was bound to come, but I thought that was still in a distant future. At least twenty years from now, or something like that.

Just when I needed her help like never before, Komachi showed her worst side.

At least my mother didn't forget me, that kept me from committing suicide on the spot long enough to hear her next words.

"Because of that I could make breakfast especially for you onii-chan!"

...

"Thank you so much!"

My sister is the absolute best in the whole wide world! I'll have to build a statue of her one day. Naturally the best place for it shall be inside my room. That way I could worship her even when society separated us during the nights.

I was ready to stuff my mouth with Komachi's surprise breakfast when I noticed some irritating little red spots inside it.

"Didn't you say you made it specially for me?" I asked carefully..

"Yepp! I did, why?" She responded cheerfully, totally ignoring my clearly projected suspicion.

"It's just that there seem to be tomatoes in it. You know very well how much I dislike to eat them."

"That's why they are in there." Why? Why did she look at me like I was the stupid one? I couldn't follow her logic at all and once more my mood took another hit.

But even if there were tomatoes in it, it was still prepared by Komachi. I had no choice but to dig in. I paid attention to do it in a reluctant way though. Open rebellion against the evil tomato system! That would teach my sister,

I couldn't allow this kind of treatment was to become normal. Unfortunately though, I lacked a proper bargaining chip at the moment to change her behaviour. My time will come though. Hopefully soon. Grrrr tomatoes.

"Good boy, good boy." And now she treated me like a dog. Who was training who? Just what was wrong with this morning? "You know, if you didn't eat so many sweet things, I wouldn't have to do this to you in the first place."

So she did it all out of care for my health?

I'm eating already, don't you see? Stop saying cute stuff like this when my mouth is full. I'm going to choke on my food if you do.

I raised my bowl to my face in order to cover my tears of happiness while I kept eating.

For my own mental sake I trusted her words. She couldn't possible have a hidden, sadistic side right? I refused to believe that there was an evil intent within my cute little sister.

'Don't worry she just wants to play' that were the last words only of brothers who have failed to be one. It didn't apply to me.

I finished my bowl despite the tomatoes and sent one last glance of displeasure towards her way, before I stood up to bring the dish into the kitchen.

I even planned to wash it right then. That was what a proper brother should do after all. It definitely wasn't because I left some of the devilish red vegetables inside of it and wanted to prevent that Komachi saw them.

When I returned to the living room she picked up the conversation again.

"So what was up with you earlier, onii-chan?"

Since I had already told her about the kiss, there was no reason not to tell her how much it affected me and of the nightmare I had.

At times like these the Hikigaya siblings were the closest, my sister even had a look full of pity for me. Thanks to that my mood recovered and hit its peak of the morning.

"Are you even trying?" What a weird thing to ask after such a heart-breaking story.

"Why? Of course I am." I rebuked.

"Yes it was a weird thing, granted. But aren't you a man? Just get over it and prepare for Yui-san's date."

So my sister decided to play the 'be-a-man'-card and sent my poor 'Hachiman' card straight to the graveyard. It was an almighty card that I couldn't even exactly classify as trap or magic card. To me it was a bogus card. Didn't we overcome the traditional roles of male and female? Not like girls wanted a cold-hearted muscle-mountain anyway. Being soft didn't make me any less of a man. I liked my pink anime for children, thank you very much.

Komachi ignored my continuous ramble and pointed at the clock.

"Aren't you going to be late if you keep talking?"

"Ah, damn." I haven't even gotten to the man-tomato relationship part yet.

But she was right about having to leave. I quickly grabbed my bag from my room and then went to the front door where I struggled with putting the shoes on.

"I'm off." I called out to Komachi, who I didn't see after I came out from my room, not really caring whether she heard it at all. Perhaps her lack of consideration towards my confusion about Isshiki stemmed from her non-existent relationship to her?

"Yepp, be careful on the way."

When did she get behind me?! I had serious trouble keeping the little bit of balance I had from being in the middle of putting on the shoes. My sister became a kunoichi, a Komoichi even! Did she learn my stealth skill just from watching me? [2]

Whenever my heart will get over this shock, I would probably start to be proud of her.

But before that, I lost my personal battle against gravity.

However, there was no impact as I was saved by the worlds cutest ninja!

Komachi had grabbed my arm to prevent me from falling to the floor while bearing a sheepishly smile.

I had the feeling that this was one of her planned pranks. Damn, did she toy with my heart.

"Thanks." I pressed a sharp, short gratitude through my teeth.

Escaping her charming grasp was my upmost priority, before I lost control over my body and started to do something unspeakable.

Executing the escape was harder than I thought as she didn't release my arm.

"I'm sure you'll manage to overcome that trouble of yours, onii-chan."

Before I could respond to her supportive whisper I was pushed away towards the door.

When I turned around, she was gone already.

A true Komoichi after all.

But what was with this morning? It had been such an emotional rollercoaster all this time, that I was already tired enough to go to bed again.

* * *

As nice as it was to have Komachi's trust and support, once I was alone, the distraction was gone and I was tortured by my memory with full force again. Needless to say that I couldn't concentrate at all during the lessons. Luckily the exams were already over, but I still had to deal with the make-up tests. Hopefully I could press the switch for when the supplementary lessons started and block everything unrelated to learning materials out. The first supplementary lesson for maths was today, but there was still a lot of time until then.

For now it didn't matter that I took it easy and I really could use some relaxing time.

It didn't work out quite as planned though. No matter which posture I entered that normally granted me a peaceful time and stable mind, today I couldn't stay long in any. I continuously shifted from one into the other. The long awaited bell for lunch break saved me from the martyrdom inside the classroom.

The sun shined in stark contrast to my state of mind. Thanks to this, I could at least spend the time on my bench in solitude. The food tasted awful today, not that one could expect more from something with a 500 yen price tag, but it was a mass-produced product which should always taste the same every day, but today the taste was just different.

"Hachiman."

I took another bite and it was even worse than the previous bites. So weird, it was the very same food.

"Hachimaaaan."

Urgh, it reached a state at which it seemed to be poisonous. My whole life felt like I was in the centre of a conspiracy, with the way how badly it always went for me. Usually I dropped such thoughts quickly though. First reason, I wasn't the kind who took himself to be so important that it allowed me to think of others going an extra mile just to deal with me. Second reason, it would have been way too nice to finish me off now that I was already on the ground.

"Hachimaaaaaaaaaaaaan."

Blurgh. I nearly spat out the last chunk I bit off. Didn't look like I could finish it at this rate, thus I put it down on my legs for now. Time to take a break from my break and look around.

"Oh Zaimokuza, you were here?" I asked innocently.

"Hmpf, I have been calling out for you a few times."

"Maybe people would recognise you sooner if you stopped doing it in a creepy way."

"Pnnghyahh! So you did hear me after all. How can you be this cruel to me, partner."

He sank to the ground as if he was cut down, this was the gross Zaimokusa I remembered. Did he break up with his girlfriend already? But he still didn't wear his trademark coat. To confirm his relationship status I threw out a question.

"Isn't that acting included in that contract of yours?"

Immediately he rose from the dead and stood up straight again.

"It's kind of hard breaking with all these ancient traditions, whawha." He replied with an awkward laugh.

It was certainly good to hear that someone still took care of him. He deserved it as, aside from his gross antics, he was a good person, who had helped me out a few times. As one of his few... uhm… acquaintances I should at least reflect a bit on my behaviour towards him.

He was the clingy type so I paid attention in the past not to be too nice to him or else I would never get rid of him again. But I guess I overdid it today, it was not his fault after all that I felt so troubled.

"Sorry, I have a lot on my mind right now and wasn't ready to have a conversation all out of a sudden."

"It's okay partner." He glanced at me suspiciously "But what could cause a problem to you I wonder." What a weird wording, just how much did this guy idolise me?

Nonetheless, an unexpected opportunity presented itself, but was it one I should take advantage of? Would he even be much of a help? Sure, he had a girlfriend now, but that didn't make him an expert all of a sudden.

"Just something concerning the Student Council." I decided against jumping at this chance. Of course I did it purely to preserve his mental image of me. He most likely needed it as spiritual guidance or so.

It had nothing to do with the be-a-man card which Komachi played earlier. There was no abrupt pain that kept me from asking Zaimokuza for relationship advice.

To make sure of that I imagined how I snipped the card into a million pieces. Well, there might had been some pieces that were glued to my finger. How was that even possible? Didn't I only use scissors? Mysterious.

"If you ever want to talk about it, contact me." He offered.

"Thanks." That goodwill of his created an annoying feeling of guilt and I quickly changed the topic.

"Haven't you become thinner? Does it have something to do with your girlfriend?"

"Oh, you noticed?! That's right, there is this incredibly strict diet she makes me go through..."

He continued through all the lunch break and I patiently listened to him, while giving a supportive comment here and there.

This could have been the first completely normal talk I had with him.

Even my food that I picked up again from my legs tasted better now.

I found some form of peace and hoped that it would continue to last after the bell's ringing to end the lunch break.

* * *

At least that was partly the case. Not that I dared to ask for more at this point. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was still bad enough for me to hear imaginary 'senpai' calls occasionally. I even started to believe that someone was actually playing a prank on me and whispered it into my ear. That I fell for it every time by turning my head didn't improve my mood either.

Apart from those rare hallucinations though, I didn't notice anything unusual in my own behaviour. I could even follow the classes somewhat. I had my doubts that I could call it a success though, if that stayed only at this level for the supplementary lessons. After all there was the possibility of being held back a year. It was impossible through normal studying to catch up for me. I had neglected maths too long for that. I had to copy everything from these lessons into my memory and papers. I needed myself in top shape.

The supplementary lessons were scheduled at the same time as the club activities. Was this supposed to be a form of punishment? Last year it definitely felt that way, as I was part of the Going-Home Club and everything that reduced my time at home was considered to be a capital punishment.

At the beginning of my time inside the Service Club I wouldn't have cared who was the culprit stealing my freedom. Clubroom, classroom, where was the difference?

Shortly after that though, I would have welcomed a short break from the club occasionally in favour of supplementary lessons, especially during the time that lead to 'the reset' with Yuigahama. The more memories I made within the club, the more I realised that I started to care about being there.

Today, I could feel it as full-blown punishment again, but for other reasons.

I truly missed being in the club, doing the usual things, hearing the girls' laughter and the smell of freshly brewed tea.

"Hehe."

Well I didn't have to miss everything though. I looked at the chuckling girl next to me, who lined up her tools nicely for the upcoming supplementary lesson in maths.

Those who focused so much on preparing for these lessons, were usually the ones who didn't concentrate at all during the actual lesson. Like they were all exhausted from preparing. I would never make such a mistake. Conserving energy was my specialty. So much that I ended up having to attend these supplementary lessons to begin win.

"So they put you in here as well?" I asked that broadly smiling girl.

"Hehe... this is the first time we're next to each other for a class." She continued to arrange her tools. Did she even hear my question?

"You can sit elsewhere if you want. We are free to chose our seat after all."

"Let's do our best! O!"

No, no, you're not Meguri-senpai, stop that act immediately. You're not even close to the image of an older sister. I didn't bother pointing that out loud, I would just get ignored again.

That reminded me though, I still had not received a pat on the head from Meguri-senpai. That was one of the few longings a little sister couldn't satisfy. Maybe I should ask Haruno for that since Meguri-senpai was out of my reach with her graduation?

...

Nah, that would feel way too different from an older sister's patting. A ritual to form a contract with a demon was the first thing that came close to the feeling Haruno would give me in that scenario.

Yuigahama still had her raised hand clenched tightly into a fist, waiting for some kind of reaction from me. Well, if she wanted that.

"Ah right, you mentioned during the first term that you only had scored 12 points and were on probation."

"Nooo! You can't remember that!" The raised fist slammed on the table and made everyone look at us. Her eyes teared up a little. That was only because she hurt her hand right? It had nothing to do with her hating that everyone watched us interacting. "Why do you only recall the embarrassing stuff..." Her voice became softer and softer.

"Then what do you want me to remember?" I inquired.

"Uhm, well you know... something like..." Watching how her face gradually turned red while she struggled coming up with an answer, made me feel like becoming a sadist and watch that expression all day long. "How mean! Stop throwing around those trick questions!" Did my face tell her that I enjoyed her embarrassment so much? I tried my best to erase that grin of mine.

"No, I had no intention to..." isn't it Yukinoshita who comes up with the sudden quizzes? But I never couldn't finish that sentence.

"You idiot! Take that! Poke! Poke! Poke!" I was relentlessly poked, no stabbed, by one of those pencils of hers that she had arranged so neatly before. Odd, I never would have thought her to be the Yandere type. Dangerous and scary. Especially frightening was how she seemed to be so skilled at it. Every attack was a homerun that made me scream internally.

"Oi, quit it! The lesson is about to start."

Reluctantly she withdrew her deadly weapon and started to look gloomy, but the look in her eyes was of someone who didn't give up yet. If I didn't want to fail the make-up test, I had to issue a warning.

"Also no playing around during the class. This is serious."

Her cheeks puffed up and she crossed the arms in front of her chest as she entered her sulking mode. Did I sound too harsh? I tried to save the situation. It would be bad if she failed to advance to the next grade because of me.

"Personally, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I don't want to be in a bad mood because of having to fear repeating a year in the same grade."

When she heard how I mentioned our date tomorrow, she quickly jumped back on her happy-go-lucky train. Just where do they sell the tickets for that?

"Me too." After her chuckle ended, she kept quiet for the whole lesson.

That saved me a lot of trouble. Even my mental struggle with the kiss took a break.

I was such a professional in supplementary lessons that I could quiet everything inside me as easily as pushing a switch.

Well, more likely it was because of Yuigahama sitting next to me. Shielding everything from a date with another girl proved to be the correct way of dealing with the multiple dating. I couldn't let something from the date with Isshiki effect something with her date tomorrow. In Yuigahama's words, it just wouldn't be fair. And I agreed with that.

After the supplementary lesson ended I informed her that I was going to call her tomorrow for the specific time and place where we would meet up for the date.

The moment we separated after the lesson, the switch was turned back to torture.

Couldn't the peaceful state of mind last longer?

The next supplementary lessons for maths were going to be on Monday and Wednesday. The make-up test itself was still far away though. Hopefully, I could resolve the Isshiki-situation till then.

* * *

I went straight home on my bicycle to retrieve today's shopping list from Komachi and then I made my way to the grocery store.

Since Miura wasn't here yet, I started the shopping on my own. Towards the end Miura came in as well and I approached her.

"Hello." I greeted her.

She was a bit later than usual, but not too much later for me to start commenting on it.

"Mhm, hello Hikio."

It did seem like something was on her mind, but she didn't say anything about it. I didn't either, as my mind was busy as well. So I simply accompanied her in silence through the supermarket for the whole time as I was practically done with my shopping.

It was the wind that broke my absentminded state. It was not an overly cold one, the weather has gotten gradually better these days, it was just the difference from being inside to outside that got to me to realise that my thoughts had been drifting during all the time in the grocery store.

That kiss.

I just couldn't not think about it. But staying silent would be bad. Without Miura speaking I would never come across a chance to use her words as kick starter to address this topic. Now what could I talk about?

Oh right, the story about how my shoe box became the garbage can for wrappers of local specialty sweets. It even had a girl as main culprit, so it might even open up a chance. [3]

"... and what hurt the most was, that they didn't even try to hide their criminal conduct."

I made it through the story without interruptions. Now that was unusual when it came to my stories and Miura. It wasn't even a boring one. Well, that might have been just for me, as it really did hurt back then. Others might lack the experience to put themselves in my shoes.

It also meant that there was no chance to speak about the reaction to the kiss either. My life continued to be full hardships for me. 'Unfair' wouldn't be enough to describe it at this point. Didn't I try my best when our lips had met? Love and all the accompanying caresses were supposed to come with a natural instruction manual buried deep inside of every person. Even cave men had no trouble with that.

Anyway, back to Miura. Was there a reason for today's behaviour?

I didn't notice anything that could have led to a worsening in our relationsh... connection. That little what we had, I didn't want to miss anymore though.

It couldn't be that my mental state was a possible cause, right? That it jumped onto her like a virus or so.

I refused to believe that. It would prove everyone right who called me Hikigerma in the past. [4] I couldn't allow that.

"Hikio.."

In conclusion that meant something was troubling her for real. What was on her mind? Without any information it was impossible for me to guess the source of her concern. We weren't that close after all. Not that it would have been possible to do that even if we were. Since I had no chance to figure it out, the logical thing to do would be to ask her directly. But was I allowed to do that? I had risked overstepping my boundaries just once, with Yukinoshita. While it was a successful move, we did spend nearly each day together at the club for more than half a year prior to that. My time with Miura was next to nothing compared to that. Even if she told me what was bothering her, could I be of any help to her? In my current state?

I might even mix things up if I were to talk about things like kissing with her, giving her all the wrong signals. The horror that would be the result of such a misunderstanding, I didn't even dare to imagine.

I guess it would be okay. Asking for her problems was way different than pushing my own troubles onto her. That was like...

"Hikio!"

Ouch! One of my numerous nicknames echoed painfully in my ear. Naturally I tried to get away from the source, but a hand on my arm kept me in place. The hand didn't exactly hold me in its grip, it was more like just placed on the arm holding me just enough to not slide off from it, but I surrendered immediately to the little resistance it created.

Since when was it there?

"Wh-what is it?" I felt so confused.

"Really, how can you space out while telling your own story?"

Yeah, how could I?! But was she really the one who could mention that? She didn't seem like she was that into the story herself.

"Didn't I finish it?" My belief that I did was not as unwavering as I wished it to be. Aargh, I couldn't even trust my own memory anymore. It used to be one of my greatest assets! My pride! Stupid kiss.

"Ha? How am I supposed to know that? It was the very first time you told me about it, geez." Her reasoning made sense.

"Well, I probably finished it."

"Probably? ...Hikio, you've been weird lately... Are you okay?" Miura's gaze was locked on me, filled with... what exactly? Hesitation? Worry? Hope? All of them? There were a variety of emotions lingering in her eyes, which increased the difficulty of recognising them. Slowly averting my own eyes wasn't helpful in figuring it out either. The gaze was too strong to withstand though. It wasn't exactly 'powerful' like back in the days when she tried to dominate people with a glare, it was more like... too meaningful to face. It had something of a non-offensive challenge... was such a thing even possible?

I couldn't simply ignore it though, even if I didn't understand it fully.

This seemed to be the moment. I took a deep breath to brace myself. There wouldn't come a chance to sneak in my problem subtly, right? I was a fool to have hoped for that.

"Miura..." My voice was soft. was it even audible what I said? I didn't dare to repeat it though, I couldn't stumble on the very first word or I wouldn't last until the end.

"...could I bother you with a problem of mine?"

There. It was out. I felt like I was going to collapse any moment, this was even more stressful to my nerves than my first confession. I was still pretty naive back then, so even while I was anxious, my mind was more open to a positive end beforehand. Unlike nowadays. Failure, rejection and disposal have become my standard expectations.

Miura's complex gaze simplified tremendously. Instead of a mix of multiple emotions only surprise remained.

However, it was soon replaced by... joy?

Not just the simple 'I'm fine with it' type of joy that she usually expresses with a gentle and calm smile. Her radiant, full blown smile flashed me like a deer caught by the lights of a car. Before my deer-like instinct to escape triggered, both of her hands held my arm now tightly in place with incredible force. That's the tennis ace for you.

It wasn't a squeezing force, but it was nonetheless very powerful in telling me that she wouldn't let me go anywhere.

Miura's new expression didn't last long after seeing the state I was in. 'Just what have I done to the world to deserve these strange reactions all the time' must have been written all over my shocked face. Or more like 'what's up with her to be so happy when telling her I suffered from a problem?' as she had no clue about my specific problem yet. In a panic she visibly tried to calm herself down, albeit she couldn't suppress it completely. Her mouth tried to stay composed as a warm smile, but a few times it twitched into a happy grin.

That wasn't the only thing that remained from that moment the sudden outburst of excitement.

Slowly my brain started to work again after the shock and then I realised...

Like her face, the arms only did half the work. I wasn't completely released yet. One hand was still latched onto my arm. On the side that was the closest to my body to boot! It totally must have looked like a couple's link, but Miura didn't pay it any thought. Wouldn't it become a problem if a neighbour of hers saw this scene?

Her thoughts seemed busy with getting her expression back under her control.

"What kind of problem are you talking about?" There might have been a tiny cough before this question. But if there was, it was too quiet for me to hear and it didn't diminish my adoration for her to sound so casually after such a display. That's a pretty cool skill to have. I often made use of it myself. Unfortunately it didn't activate for my response.

"It's about... the dating thing of mine" I somehow brought out while scratching my cheek, so uncool.

Ouch! Miura's grip tightened strongly momentarily! Was she angry? She shot my a short glance for which her face became partly visible again. The corner of her mouth was raised quite high, what a relief. It was probably her maiden heart that jumped on the word 'dating'. Yuigahama did say that she liked such stories. Good, it should be easier if she was passionate about it. But to even cause a physical reaction, it sure caught me by surprise.

"We kissed during our date."

Ouch! _That_ did hurt. Damn, did she get excited again because I mentioned a kiss?

Wow, did she look angry right now. I couldn't even take a step back because she still held me in her grasp.

"I-it was Isshiki who made the first move! I didn't even notice until it happened!" I could only pray that my verbal emergency protocol would carry me out of the danger zone. With my movement restricted by her like this a physical escape was impossible after all.

Miura's glare softened after I put all the blame on my little Kouhai.

Sigh.

My breathing out to release my tension went unnoticed as we both sighed at the same time.

"That girl again..." Miura said, more to herself than to me. But that last word made me interested.

"Did she do that to Hayayaah!?" 'Hayama as well' I wanted to ask, but the danger I just had escaped was imminent again. Isshiki and Hayama were truly landmine topics for this blonde classmate of mine.

"M-my problem... it's about her reaction... after the kiss..." I quickly tried to get the talk back on track.

Then I started with how we were at the port during sunset to give Miura some context. How Isshiki asked me about on which date to do the first kiss, followed up by my reply being the third one sounded fine. If she weren't that angry shortly before this, I had a hunch that she would have giggled at my rather innocent reply. Damn, now I wanted to hear her do that again to lift my mood as I approached the hard part of the date.

I continued with Isshiki's dance and initial reaction to the kiss, the confused look. What kind of face would Miura make to that part?

Huh? I couldn't see her face that moment. Looks like not only my mood did drop, but also my shoulders and head. When her face moved back into my field of vision I could see how her eyes contained a considerable amount of pity, I could even make out some moisture in the corner of her eyes. Now that was an expected reaction.

But something was amiss.

Compared to my normal stories, Miura had yet to give any remarks. It was obvious that she wanted to do that though, but she bit her lips to keep them shut. I was kind of interested in what she wanted to say...

Wait! I haven't told her the end yet! Based on the information I had given Miura up till now, she probably would mistook me for an awful kisser that got dumped because of that.

Haha, that couldn't be true, right?

I mean, every human should be able to do that naturally. So no way I was one of the rare exceptions haha...

ha...

Urgh, the lack of proper feedback in that area was crushing my spirit easily.

Anyway, I better clear up the misleading train of thought.

For my own dignity as a man.

"A-and then she embraced me and stayed close with me until the end of our date."

"Huh?" Her initial reaction was close to that of my sister, was that a bad sign? I quickly went on to tell her my own thoughts on it.

"She even said that 'hugging was enough for _now_ '. I'm really at a loss what to think of it. Denying intimacy just to seek it again, I just don't get it."

Miura went into deep thoughts, looks like she wasn't giving up yet as my sister did. Instead of feeling trapped by her holding my arm, it now was a source of support. I wasn't the slightest bit anxious while waiting for her conclusion.

"...Have you talked about it with her?"

' _Err, this wasn't the answer I was waiting for, it wasn't an answer at all. Answering questions with questions was foul play!_ ' my heart screamed.

' _She might simply require additional information._ ' Luckily my brain interrupted quick enough to stop any unnecessary words from coming out of my mouth.

"No, well,.. wouldn't that be.." I had no real reason that was any good to support my refusal. I simply felt like I would end up inferior to Isshiki if I did that. Such a self-consciously pitiful attitude was nothing I could give a voice too.

Seeing me desperately searching for an answer like this, Miura knowingly sighed.

"Say, what do you think of her?"

What a killer question, no way I could answer that correctly without upsetting someone.

Deeply troubled I looked to the side.

"Uhm, how should I say this?" I adopted the foul play tactic to escape the question.

"Don't you think she is acting too sly?"

"Absolutely." That I could whole-heartedly confirm without delay.

"But despite that, her attacks fail constantly." Straight out calling them attacks huh?

"... they do hit home sometimes though..." Yepp, sometimes they were really potent. Just thinking back on them I had a hard time not to blush.

"That's just because you know even less than her about this stuff." She shot me an accusing look. Why was I receiving the blame? Nevertheless, Miura was right.

"I-I'm sorry for being so inexperienced."

"Hey, don't look so down. It's kinda not your fault... I guess..." That cheer was super... ineffective.

"Anyway, I have seen her doing a lot of various attempts, but they are executed so clumsily. Like her timing is way off, she barely reads the mood and so on. Trust me, in truth she is very inexperienced as well. She might even ask herself the same questions as you do." She took a deep breath to emphasise her solution.

"So my advice is, talk to her about it."

"I see..." Actually her suggestion wasn't that bad, her argument was quite convincing. Thanks to Isshiki always trying to be the sly succubus, I was fooled about her not being a beginner in that field as well.

"Then I'll do that, Thank you."

She gave me a nod, boasting a confident grin that said 'job well done' to herself. It somehow felt like she was belittling me.

Of course I knew that Miura didn't intend to give me such a feeling, but I couldn't NOT act on it. With the mental weight lifted so suddenly, my urge to tease her rose quickly and became too strong...

"You sound so sure, but as long as I've known you, you never were in an actual relationship yourself, right?" I gave her a doubtful look, before I changed into a shocked expression "Could you be an imposter?!"

My acting must have been more convincing than I wanted it to be. Instead of turning Miura's slightly angry but cheerful mode on, in which she would use my body as drum replacement, she looked downcast and sad.

"You know very well, why that's the case..."

"I'm really sorry." Truly. "B-but there was a time before Hayama right? Did you have a boyfriend back then?" I was so troubled that I blurted that out without thinking about possible consequences.

Miura's eyes widened in surprise. It was only now that I realised what I have been saying. I delved into her past, something I normally would never do. Ack, my time being on good terms with her would end now for sure now. 'Well done idiot' I thought to myself, mentally bashing my head against a wall.

But a few seconds past without any backlash from my classmate. She didn't even took her hand of me, instead she talked normally with me.

"Yes, there were a few guys in middle school I went out with. A lot of the boys confessed to me back then. Well, not like they didn't do that when I entered high school at first too. But then I had already seen Hayato and rejected everyone of them."

It sounded like an awful lot of bragging, but since it was probably all true, one couldn't blame her for talking like this.

"Seems like they kept you busy..." I couldn't even draw a single parallel to my own middle school life. Nobody confessed to me, aside from pranks, and I had the most free time out of everyone from my school.

"But they were all jerks, only interested in my body." Miura not only gritted her teeth, but even her hand tightened its grip again. Urgh, I could really feel how unpleasant those experiences must have been. However, I was really interested in this topic, so I endured the pain and prolonged the theme.

"How could you tell? I mean, they might have been just nervous when looking at you."

She creased her eyebrow giving me a 'what a pure soul' look. Or a 'How naive can you be' one. I hoped it was the former.

"Their hands sure weren't nervous when they felt my body." She said sarcastically before going on a rant. "Some even wanted to go all the way! Like immediately! I was mostly 15 during the last year in middle school, I wasn't prepared for that yet."

"A-all the way?" And here I was, not able to deal with a simple kiss, while Miura was confronted with situations in which boys wanted to claim her virginity already 2 years ago.

"So sooner or later, I always had to leave them, like, when they wouldn't listen to me. A few times it felt like escaping. I was totally scared..."

"Guys sound so scary..." After constantly hearing how girls were plotting evil creatures, I now was told that horny boys were straight up beasts. Was there any hope for this world?

"You make it sound like you aren't one..." Stop looking like I was a wild animal that would go on rampage any minute!

"Heah? But I have never done anything like that!" Aside from thoughts and occasional dreams I was a pure soul! The porn stash my mother had found once, was long disposed of. There were nothing left to proof otherwise!

"Who knows what you would have done if you had the chance..." Wait a moment. Her voice didn't sound enraged anymore at all. Even her lips curled upwards, while watching my reaction. What was going on?

Did she set me up when I was the one who planned on teasing her?

I was at a loss for words with my mouth agape. Watching my face with that expression, Miura started to giggle. And as my face turned more and more sour because of her chuckling, her giggle increased till it became a full laughter.

Urgh, should I press the button to end her happy mood and destroy the conversion and end it with a draw?

...

I decided against it. Even if she was laughing at me, just the sound of it made it worth to listen to. Also nothing was sweeter than revenge. I could press the button for that once she calmed down.

But when did she start to tease me? How much of what she said was true?

I was curious, but there was no way I could ask that now. It would be like asking 'Are you still a virgin?' causing all kinds of misunderstandings.

As she was letting out her last laughs, she shook my arm with her hand, which never had separated the link while we talked, urging me to join in her happiness.

I made a thinking pose which was so exaggerated that it was impossible to miss it.

"If all boys are seizing such chances, I wonder if Hayama-"

"NO!" Damn, my ear rang. Miura gave me an angry glance. So predictable. Now that she didn't think clearly I continued.

"Are you sure? He probably was quite popular in middle school as well. With so many girls around him, it must have been impossible for him to control his hormones."

"There's no way Hayato did such things!" Her glance turned into a full-blown glare that reminded me of the time she pressured Yuigahama because of the time she spent with Yukinoshita. However, I didn't fold. It wasn't like I became super brave all of a sudden, but I knew that the next step would take all the hot wind out of her sails.

"Ah, I wonder about that. Didn't he talk about it during the summer camp or at the trip to Kyoto? Aaahh my bad memory. Just what did he say, what did he say?" I was such a lousy actor, but in her state it did still work.

"Haa?!" Miura received a small mental shock. "Wh-what? Tell me what did he say?" She demanded while pulling my arm several times.

"Mhhhhhhh, I'm afraid I can't do that. Didn't he say those things inside the boys room? I don't think I can reveal such secrets without asking for permission." Hayama never said anything when it came to girls. The only thing Tobe could extract from his was the first letter of the girl he liked.

Y.

But according to Tobe it wasn't Yumiko Miura.

"I promise I won't tell anyone, please!" She pleaded to me quite some time until I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore.

When Miura realised I had fooled her, her cheeks inflated so much that she could have been mistaken for an anime character. Her pouting was ultra high in cuteness points, unfortunately it didn't last long as physical punishment followed swiftly. Her free hand hit and poke me till I had to cough from inhaling to much air while laughing.

Satisfied with that she stopped her attacks and to my surprise we had gone past our usual spot. It wasn't on my path leading home, so we must have walked her route.

However, before we could separate, I had one more issue on my mind.

"About tomorrow, because of the date with Yuigahama, I will have to do the shopping earlier than usual..."

"That's no problem. Is 11am okay?" No, no that wasn't my issue. I had no problem with going alone, I just wanted to notify her. For her to change her schedule so natural just because of that...

"Uhm, sure."

Well, it wasn't like it was bothering me, if she suggested it herself it was fine.

Actually that was quite the good thing.

If only she stopped looking at me like she was the big evil wolf about to eat the red riding hood ever since I mentioned tomorrow's date.

That made me feel quite uncomfortable. She still hadn't let go of my arm at any point yet. Not being able to escape only increased my anxiety.

"I-i was wondering if you could give me advices about the dates again the future."

Miura raised her index finger and pressed it against her lips, acting like she was thinking. But it was as fake as mine. Payback time huh?

"I wonder about that too..."

"Please? Pretty please?" Without any dignity I accepted her win for now.

"But I'll only help with Yui's dates." She said with a mischievous smile.

"Mmhh, just getting one-sided help isn't really a fair thing to do...but it's not like Yukinoshita and Isshiki wouldn't profit as from it as well if I get additional knowledge... okay." With that I accepted her condition and achieved my goals for today.

When I tried to get more space between us to initiate the parting formalities her hand still didn't let go. Even if she was cute, I couldn't just take her hooooome, right?[5]

"Say, what are you going to do with Yui tomorrow?" Dangerous! Her prying eyes was now combined with the mischievous smile.

"I can't tell you yet.."

"Haa?! I thought you wanted my help?"

"I said 'for the future' didn't I. I'd like to do the first set on my own to see what I am currently capable of."

"Hmpf." That dampened her mood and I kind of felt sorry for it.

"But I can tell you that it will be something that I learned from you. So thanks."

As expected it confused her a great deal. So much that she took a step back from me, looking at me with a questioning gaze. Even my arm was raised! I wanted to use that chance to turn around to get back to my own path. While she was deep in thoughts I made a few quick steps away.

"Bye, see you tomorrow at 11!" I even raised the arm above my head and waved at her. Such a cliché way of parting. Did I read too many light novels? But it did feel super cool and I wanted to do it once in my life too.

"Wh-wha? Huh!?" I heard Miura saying, but I didn't stop.

Yepp, that was an awesome feeling!

But this parting was the only thing that was like in a light novel. During the entire time we were linked like a couple, our shoulders never bumped together, nor was my arm pressed against her breasts once...

Real life was really cruel.

On the way home I wondered whether it was still okay to think about such things when I dated other girls. Miura probably didn't even notice how long the link lasted. Before I arrived at home, I had seen a lot of girls linking their arms together. It was just what they do. No matter who walked besides them.

After the cooking lesson I swiftly fell asleep on my bed. Without the mental burden it undoubtedly would be a good rest.

* * *

Yumiko's PoV

Half of today's diary entry was filled with complaining about Hikio's teasing. He enjoys that way too much. But at least he _does_ enjoy it. Truly. With smiles on his face and real laughter, not just snickering. It was so different from his attitude in school. Yui must see this side of him regularly, is that why she fell for him? I felt a bit envious that the club members got to know this side for much longer than I did.

Despite this thought, my lips formed a smile. I was reading again what I had wrote today. I sure got him a few times as well. His expression when he realised was so priceless. Just remembering it made me giggle.

"Like I would go down so easily, right?" I caressed my diary.

Mmhh? Did I just talk with it? That usually only happened when I was very excited, like when Hayato did something special to me. Why was that?

I looked at today's entry to find a reason. Another topic was the upcoming date of Yui. While I was happy for her, I also felt a little depressed. She had yet to tell me about it, so that wasn't it.

Then it hit me.

"Hikio?" I even whispered his name. He did tell me. But not only that, he also asked me for help. And even if it was just because of his teasing, he did ask me about my past as well. But once the topic was started, he seemed genuinely interested in it.

All of that made me really happy, but was it enough of a reason to be that excited?

I looked at my diary again. It never lied to me. And today it showed me one half about the teasing, one quarter about Yui's date and the last quarter about Hayato.

My eyes widened in surprise, but there was no mistake what dominated this day. Well, there was a lot going on currently on Hikio's side. With the date and so. Like it can't be helped. And Hayato had been rather quiet today.

Was he exhausted from all the extra training for the club?

Next week was going to be a difficult one.

I sighed and closed my diary.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

First thing in the morning I let out a big, satisfied yawn. That was the kind of sleep that even the Tenno would be envious of. [6]

But just because I was in a good mood, didn't mean I would help preparing the breakfast.

Nonetheless my sister got suspicious of me real quick, sending me questioning glances. Even my mother had question marks plastered on her face. Hey, hey I wasn't in such a great mood that I deserved so much attention. Only my father was indifferent as usual, but there was a chance that he wasn't even awake in the first place. It was hard to tell sometimes.

I tried to stay out of distances that allowed a proper conversation to avoid any further escalation.

However, when preparation for breakfast was completed, this tactic came to an end.

I could only sit down, full of tension, and prayed for being ignored as normally.

There was a good chance that my sister would just check with me afterwards in solitude.

My mother on the other hand... I could only hope for her to mistake my mood as a sign for a lack of sleep.

To reduce the chances of being questioned endlessly, I decided to gulp my food quickly and barricade myself in my room.

Talking with my mom about my plans today... that would be like way too embarrassing.

Sometimes my mother had very sharp senses, so lying was not guaranteed to work.

As I took my first bite, my mother asked without an addressee.

"Do you have any plans today?" Everyone who was awake knew that I was meant, but as long as I could pretend not be the one who was asked, I would do just that. Eventually Komachi would pick up the conversation that laid dead in front of me.

I did listen in without getting any details. It was just a colourful speech about not doing anything. Similar to what I did in middle school, when I still cared about my image within the family.

It made me proud that my tradition found a successor.

Anyway, maybe I was the one who was overly self-conscious. After the initial random question, nobody made an attempt to include me in the conversation and I started to relax.

Did my father just snore while eating? That was some Luffy level of skill to eat while sleeping. [7]

As I tried to figure out how he did it, I suddenly remembered that I had to do the shopping earlier.

"Can you give me today's shopping list?" I asked my sister.

"Huh? But isn't there still plenty of time left till then?" Was Komachi's bored response.

"True, but I'm going earlier today."

""Why?"" Mother and sister asked in unison. Damn, I got careless.

"N-no particular reason..."

"Then you can just wait till the usual time."

"But it doesn't matter if I go early, right?"

"Oh silly Onii-chan, of course it does. Think about it, the ingredients will be fresher if you get them just before dinner."

"Nah, it doesn't matter whether they are stored in the supermarket or here..." Really sister, think about it yourself before you use an argument.

"Oh I know! If it's too bothersome you better wait till right before the deadline. Didn't you teach me that? Also the bigger the time gap, the harder it's to plan ahead. Right mom?"

To that reasoning my mother could only make a wry smile. But rather than correcting her daughter's way of life, she wanted to pry into her son's life for the first time in years.

"Can't you just tell us why you have to go out of your way?"

Trapped again. Females must have a natural predator instinct.

With no way out, I was about to give in, but then a miracle took place.

The father sided with the son.

Kind of.

He mumbled something like 'It's probably just another prank or so. It's good that you haven't given up yet, but don't push yourself. Just let the boy go. Leave him some dignity.'.

I wondered what happened to my dignity just with his statement. Still I was thankful for the intervention as I reluctantly received the list from Komachi. However, when my mother watched me with a strong pitying look it was hard for me not to reassure her that it wasn't anything bad, but then I would just find myself being interrogated again. Sorry mom.

The moment I made my inner resolve my mother talked casually with my sister again, like nothing ever happened.

Then I realised... Did my mother just try to trick me into spilling everything?

I'll take the sorry back. Such despicable tactics.

Suddenly I didn't want to go on a date anymore. Ah, but shouldn't my sister know of the date with Yuigahama? So she planned to embarrass me in front of the whole family, that evil little rascal.

I strengthened my peripheral sight, but no matter how intense my look was, a Mikuru beam wasn't shot. Not that I wanted to be bitten by an alien anyway.[8]

Just when I wanted quit my unfruitful behaviour, I saw Komachi having a moment of enlightenment with her mouth and eyes going O before giving me a wicked smile and a thumb up.

Didn't she really know before? I said that I was confident that she would make it into Sobu High, but at a time like this even the faith of Onii-sama was wavering.

After breakfast I relaxed according to the laws of this house as best as I could. The only disturbance was my sister asking me a bunch of question of what I had planned for the date. To avoid any leaks to Yuigahama I didn't tell her anything but trivial stuff like the time.

Then it was time to go shopping.

* * *

I leaned against a wall, keeping a short distance from the grocery store, while I waited for Miura to arrive. With some time to spare from being slightly too early, plus taking a girl's fashionably late habit into account, I started to write a mail. It was rare for me to be the initiator, but the topic demanded it. There was no way I would be half-assed about it and I made sure for the recipients not to be as well. Although I was confident that one of them would take the matter 100% seriously, it didn't guarantee a satisfying result. I highly doubted anything decent would come out of it, if that person was left unattended.

As for the other... that was a lost case right from the start.

Various memories flooded my head that supported my reasoning for the need of writing this mail.

Being totally convinced of its need, it didn't make writing the message any easier.

Even if the cause wasn't a selfish one, the request the mail contained was.

So I spent my time waiting at the wall with writing, or to be more precise with deleting and rewriting. What a nerve-wracking thing to do on a weekend.

When I tried to change the mail for the tenth time or so, my shoulder was nudged.

...

The processing symbol came and went by so quickly, that I couldn't do anything to interrupt it. Like it was mocking me, my phone displayed the truth. Mail sent. How could this happen in real life?! I could name at least 20 movies, TV dramas and books which contained this scenario. This wasn't funny at all. It was so unfunny that my eyes got a bit teary.

I looked for the perpetrator and found Miura next to me.

"Just why?" Without paying any respect to formalities of greetings I asked the question that danced around in my head.

Flabbergasted from these watery eyes of mine, she quickly touched the spot she had hit and caressed it softly.

"I didn't really hit you that hard..." My classmate said in a sulky voice before continuing with excuses. "Anyway, this is your fault to begin with. When you are spacing out like this you never react to my words, so I had like no choice but to try something different. Now let's go." With a clap, that was stronger than the nudge, on the same spot she left me behind and went inside the supermarket.

How did it become my fault again, I didn't quite get the logical leaps here.

Well, what happened, happened. There was no need to think further about it. I would have sent this or another rewrite of the message anyway.

So I quietly accepted the blame and followed her into the store.

* * *

"Here." Miura took something out of her shopping bag and was trying to pass it onto me. "take this."

"Your Miso Peas? They're too heavy for you?" I had a faint idea what she wanted to do and I felt regret for not clearing up the misunderstanding from before the shopping, when I had the chance.

"These are for you."

"You know, you don't have to..."

"You like them, don't you? So just take them."

Of course I was happy about the gesture, these were Miso Peas after all. But more than that I was troubled, since I didn't believe that she did anything that warranted to be sorry for. I would feel indebted to her if I accepted this.

"Well, I guess I can hold on to it, _for a while._ " Tactical temporary retreat! Beating around the bush would just hurt her good intentions and I had the feeling that she would force it on me somehow anyway.

However, I needed to make sure that I'll return the peanuts before we separated.

I heard a strong sigh from her, whether out of relieve or frustration I didn't know.

Perhaps a mixture of 'why don't you just take it?' and 'finally'. I knew it myself, that I was quite difficult to handle.

"Really, you're such a handful sometimes." That didn't mean I was fine with hearing it though! Like she had a right to say that line. She totally ignored my emphasis after all.

Giving the Miso Peas back to her, might turn out to be a tough battle. Now it was me who wanted to sigh.

My phone started to ring the incoming mail tune. Oops, I forgot to put it on mute mode. My loner habits were wearing off. If it were the old me, I would have activated it as soon as I left home in order to not gain any attention from others or to disturb them. Komachi and Amazon did sent me messages regularly after all back then.

What happened to Amazon-chan anyway? The messages became fewer and fewer. Just where did my allowance go these days?

I skilfully let my hand slip into the pocket and turned the sound off without looking. Even if the habits became unreliable, my skills will stay with me until the endgame!

"Sorry." I offered an apology to my conversation partner.

"Won't you take a look at it or something?" That would be the behaviour of a normal teenager these days, but so shortly after realising the change in my habits, I tried to resist changing all too much. I liked how I was after all.

"Nah, I can do that later."

BbbzzzzzbBbbzzzzz... Curse you vibration mode!

"Looks like it's important." Her eyes urged me, no threatened me, to shift my attention to my phone.

So this was what they call peer group pressure, huh? Miura had such a presence that she could be counted as group all by herself. Didn't nobles in Europe address themselves in plural? No doubt left anymore that Miura was indeed a Queen. Q.E.D. [9]

Oh my, about time my maths study started to show itself! Even if there was no maths involved.

This time I sighed for real as I gave in and pulled out my phone.

Two messages, one from Yuigahama and the other from Yukinoshita. They agreed to the request.

"Oh, you're smiling. Did Yui send something nice?" I was asked in a sweet tone that took its own assumption for a fact, not caring about a proper confirmation.

"I'm not smiling! You're smiling!" An overly childish reaction that even surprised myself, but something in her voice made me quite miffed. Her giggling to my reaction made me feel like I played right into her hands. This was the kind of situation I tried so hard to avoid at the breakfast table and I only had succeeded thanks to my father's interference.

I coughed two times to recollect myself.

Being childish was proof that the inner child was still alive. As long as that was the case, one would be taken care of by the parents, or something.

"It's not what you think. I only got an agreement for something, that's why I smiled." I explained myself.

"But it is from Yui right?"

"Well... that might be the case, b-but the smile wasn't because it was her!" Getting worked up at the end didn't help my cause at all. Instead of an understanding nod, I just got another round of giggling. I started to doubt that I ever had a chance at clearing up the first misunderstanding even if I had tried earlier. People just heard what they wanted to. One more sigh left my mouth today.

"About the date... what are you going to do?" She then asked me the question I already had heard yesterday. Not like I couldn't understand that my words before the parting beckoned that question again. But of course my answer would be the same one she heard yesterday as well.

"I can't tell you yet.."

"But you can tell me, like, ...later, right?"

"Yes, after it's done with I can tell you. I mean, I already asked you if I could do that. So, tomor-"

"Then call me today." An absolute demand that threw off my thinking completely.

"Uhm, I don't even know your contact info." I tried to argue.

My classmate simply looked at the phone I still held in my hand. Yepp, that was a really stupid attempt of an excuse, but you couldn't blame me. I felt like I was hit from a truck after hearing that she wanted me to call her.

"I'll give it you." Wasn't that way too fast? I mean I only got Yukinoshita's and Isshiki's info just recently. As my mind was still in shock, my body reacted on its own and presented her the phone.

Miura creased her eyebrow. What now? I surrendered already, what more could she want?

"And you dared to lecture me about something like data privacy and what not?"

"Mhh I never... oh." So Yuigahama really did relay the message back then? Wow, what a shocker.

"She must really like you." I said. "I didn't think she would care enough about the topic and remember a technical term long enough to tell you."

Her creased eyebrow started to twitch.

"Just what do you think of her? Aren't you going on a date with her like about now?"

"I still have some time before it. Although I have yet to complete some preparations." I skilfully shifted all the attention on the second question to avoid answering the first one. No matter what I thought of Gahama-san, coming to a date with a blue eye would be bad for everyone.

Seems like that wasn't necessary though. At one point Miura must have snatched away the phone from me and focused on the display without moving a finger.

Th-there shouldn't be anything to stare right? I carefully deleted my browsing history, even on my phone.

I made a step closer to look what there was to see. Oh, the address book. Was she wondering how few contacts I had? Nah, she probably had expected that. So what was in it that could create problems?

My family should be in the clear and having my clubmates in it shouldn't be unusual. Totsuka as girlfriend might be a bit problematic, but for Miura he should primary fall in the classmate category.

Before I could go through the rest, I saw a ❤ icon on the display. Not just one, but two. And they were tagged next to a certain name. If I went pale now it would be my end. Luckily I saw ✯YUI✯ right there as well, that would reduce my punishment right?

But my classmate just released her focus along with a deep breath.

"You really shouldn't hand your phone over that easily."

"Then you can give it back to me now." What I found to be an awesome retort was ignored. How unfair was that?

"Hey, how do you call me?" She asked me.

Well, wasn't that Miura? I remembered calling her that during her request about Hayama's career plan and there were probably more occasions. Shouldn't she know that?

...

Ah, I know! it was another trick question, similar to the 'How do you like Yui' one...

Damn, she asked that because she knew! It was such a loaded atmosphere back then that I didn't use any honorifics.

It was probably too late, but I tried to fix up my mistake.

"Miura-sa..." Oh no, her eyes flared up. "...ma?" Nice save, but it was extremely embarrassing to address a classmate with sama.

However, her glare didn't soften. Still not good? I was at a loss.

"Uhm, Miura-sama? You can t-type in whatever you want."

Exhausting my options by calling her the usual way, I tried to make up the rudeness it contained with a very generous offer. How thoughtful of me.

It did have an effect, even if just a small one. Still visibly unpleased, her majesty typed her name and contact info into my phone. Very swiftly I must say, which showed the usual affinity between a high school girl and her phone.

Then a sudden realisation hit me, I did it wrong my whole life!

I just had to wear a phone costume and the girls would be swarming around me.

Yeah, like that would ever work out.

My classmate handed over my cellphone back to me.

What? I was completely caught by surprise. Yumiko was written there.

Nah, she didn't want me to call her that for real, right? I mean, I didn't call Isshiki or Yuigahama on first name basis either, just because they wrote it there.

While my eyes were glued to my display, I felt hers burning through my skin, expecting some kind of reaction.

"Oh, the character for 'tender'... that really fits you." I nervously scratched my cheek.

"Haa? You didn't know that?" Another wrong step? Knew it and you were a creep, or didn't know it and they were upset. Girls society wasn't as conform as I thought it would be.

"You see, I intentionally ignore these things in high school, because I was called a creep in mid- mpfh?!"

Isn't it going way too overboard to suffocate me just because I pretended not know how your name was written?

"Not today. You have a date with Yui later, so no bad memories today. Got it?"

I nodded my head, but you know... just because you shut my mouth with your hand, it wouldn't stop my thoughts.

Well in a way it did. Her hand had a very sweet scent to it. Similar to her hair back when she was leaning against me after I explained her the reason why I thought she was lonely.

Did she just got out the shower before she went shopping? That sweet smell was so unfair. I could feel how my soul left the body behind as my awareness faded gradually.

How much time had passed? I couldn't tell, but anything more than a single moment would have been weird and not Queen-like at all.

And once more she proved to be one. Not only was she able to naturally make a classmate refer to her with sama but also got him to give her a kiss on the hand. Even if the latter wouldn't hold any resemblance to a dictionary entry as I made no active movement at all. How could I being as paralyzed as I was.

Oh we were at the usual parting spot already, not the one from yesterday. Should I tag along like the day before? As I asked myself that, I got the feeling that something had escaped my mind...

"Bye, don't forget about calling me later. Don't drag it out or something like you did with Yui when she was sick. Seriously, don't do that."

As I wondered whether that was supposed to be a threat or a plead, she already had left me behind.

Dumbfounded as I was I could only say my goodbye to her back. "Bye." I wasn't sure whether she heard it or not.

Once I realised what I had forgotten, the shopping bag grew heavier. Great, now I had three complicated issues to solve. The date with Yuigahama, the phone call with Miura and the Miso Peas that were undeservedly in the shopping bag.

I pressed some air out of my lungs.

One thing after an other I guess. As the first on the list was the date, I took a detour to another shop before going home.

After I had finished my preparations, I gave Yuigahama a brief call like I promised. I informed her that I would come to her home in the afternoon and meet her there and at which specific time. Initially she was fine with it, but that was before I heard the voice of a grown up woman in the background. For some reason she made hasty protests afterwards. I quickly dismissed them all, saying 'I would ring her doorbell at 4pm and if she wasn't home I would assume to have been dumped. And no matter who talked to me afterwards would be ignored'.

With a sulky voice she weakly agreed to it and if I had superhuman hearing I probably could have listened to the sound of a fist pump by a certain housewife.

Afterwards I sneaked out of home to avoid a interrogation session with my dear sister. I was nervous enough and wouldn't be able to take another lesson on girls from her.

* * *

I constantly checked my bag whether I had everything I needed for today's date. All utensils were there. Not that there was that much to look for, each round of checking only took about 30 seconds off the clock. At least I didn't have as much time to kill like before the window shopping with Miura after I had a couple's dinner with Shizu... Hiratsuka-sensei.

Oh right, didn't Miura forbid negative memories today? Yeah~ that dinner never happened.

When I tried to focus my thoughts on anything but food related stuff, my stomach grumbled.

Great now I was hungry. I thought about eating the Miso Peas, but then I remembered that I had left them in my room. They weren't actually a good choice to eat on the road anyway, due to the paste that would be left on the fingers. Even Gahama-san would notice my sticky fingers if I did. So in order to use the washroom with a good reason, I would have had eaten them together with Yuigahama and gave her a good share of it. Despite her figure she was really into snacks.

Actually I had not decided yet on what to do with them. Trying to give them back was only a theoretical option at this point. It had nothing to do with me actually craving for their taste, or not wanting to share them with others.

Looks like it was time to ring the bell. I took a deep breath before I charged heroically at the dragon called 'home date while a parent was present'. It was always such a great hurdle in dating-sims, but it didn't come even close to the anxiousness I felt in Real Life.

I must have been out of my mind when I thought up the dating course for Yuigahama.

* * *

At exactly 4pm I rang the doorbell. If I had hesitated to do that, I would have stood half an hour in front of the door like an idiot only amplifying the nervousness over time. But It was just a simple push after all, everyone inside the house knew I would come at this exactly this time.

The first thing I heard were some quick tip-tap noises from someone running. Looks like I better get ready now.

"I'm leaving now Mama!" Yuigahama's voice came faintly through the door.

"Heh? Wait! I wanna see Hikki-kun too!" I wanted to see Hikki-kun just one time as well, but he probably hung out only with those Hikitani-kun and Hikio guys. No place for Hachiman anywhere.

"We have to hurry, sorry!" We did? She shouldn't have any clue what we are going to do.. weird. But that sentence was wrong anyway. Even though I only heard dampened sounds, I was convinced that she wasn't sorry at all.

The door flung open and from below I could see her beaming smile while she skipped the the greeting completely.

"Let's go-oh?" Her eyes darted around in search for me, when she looked down...

"Whaaaaaaaaa~ Wh-wh-wh-wh...!?" Gahama-san lost her ability to speak. An all-time low for her, to even forget Japanese as a whole.

"What?" I decided to help her find the word she had forgotten in a casual tone.

Regardless of how I treated it as the most natural thing in the world, she still blushed. She surely should be embarrassed about forgetting something do basic, but it was our first date together, so I wouldn't mind if she delayed her reflection of her behaviour for an other day.

"Where you trying to peek under my skirt?!" Now that she mentioned it, she indeed wore only a skirt. Just like Miura always did, regardless of any weather condition. Could you please stop fiddling with the hem of your skirt? I moved my gaze away and explained myself.

"I just wanted to do a proper greeting, that's all..."

"On your knees?!"

"Yeah, it's better than getting tackled straight on..." Stop looking at me like I was the unreasonable one.

"I never did that! What were you imagining of how a date started? Wait, did Ihora-chan..?" As I watched how her blush intensified I was wondering what _she_ imagined right now.

Anyway, how could anyone misunderstand what I was doing, really.

"Woof!"

"Ah, here he comes." As soon as I finished the sentence Sable jumped into my arms, waving his tail wildly out of happiness. I nearly had expected him to be sulking that he couldn't tackle me this time, but looks like he didn't care about that at all as long as he was close to me.

"What took you so long?" I picked the little rascal up and asked him.

"wooff? woof!" He answered something that I didn't understand, maybe I should ask its owner? No good... for whatever reason she seemed to be in a shock. As I pondered whether to use the dog lingo app, the main owner arrived at the door.

Yuigahamama gave of the same kind aura as last time, when Yukinoshita and I came here with her daughter.

"Oh my, it's really Hikki-kun. She didn't want to tell me where she was going to, but when she was humming happily I could guess it, hehe."

"Good afternoon, Miss Yuigahama." I gave her a very formal greeting, I even bowed to hide my face a bit.

Wasn't there something missing? Like a denial or so?

Yuigahama's mother did seem to have the same feeling, but after a short break of silence, she picked up the conversation again.

"Why don't you come in? Here, here." With her hands she waved me inside.

"Sorry for the intrusion" I said and did as she suggested.

"Woof!"

The statue of Yuigahama was now splendidly ignored by everyone, including the dog.

Since my classmate was preoccupied and couldn't lead me to her room, I had more time to look around the living room today. Unlike Yukinoshita's apartment it gave off the feeling of someone really living here with a lot of personal stuff on display. But just because it wasn't sterile or very orderly, it didn't mean it was messy. There was no hill of lazily thrown magazines on the table, just a small unordered staple. The couch with its cushions looked inviting instead of screaming 'be careful not to leave any marks while sitting down'. There was even a folded blanket on it which seemed big enough for multiple persons. It signalled a physical closeness of the family that was incomparable to my own. Well, except for Komachi and mom.

"So tell me what did you come here for today?" A direct question from the start, although she seemed to have the right idea already. Well no matter how kind she was to me, first and foremost she was still Yuigahama's mother. If this was intended to clear doubts and prevent misunderstandings, this was just my type of question. And she appeared nice enough to deserve clear answers. Albeit, after my father's stories, I couldn't be sure whether that was all just part of some secret plan to provoke cooperation from me, or if she was really like this. Nevertheless, I answered.

"I came because we agreed to have a date today..."

"Oh my! You're a couple now? I was a bit worried when I saw Yukinon-san. She has quite the stunning appearance, don't you think?" This could only be a trick question, like for real. How was it possible to even ask that to the guy who dated her daughter at the very moment? "And she was so nice and polite too."

Ah, okay. I got. I was temporary confused, because I thought she asked about Yukinoshita. But that Yukinon-san was a whole different person who I never met before. Was she a friend of Hikitani-kun as well? Well, now was not the time for foolish thoughts, I had to correct the big misunderstanding first.

"Ah, no.. we're just on a test date, like to see whether it can work out or so... we're not together at the moment." A slight sadness hushed over her face, but in the blink of an eye she was back to the cheerful mother.

"Don't worry too much, I'm sure it's going to be fine. Oh I know, I'll bring some snacks."

"Please, there is no need to go that far just for me."

"Haha, you're so modest, just like Yui said, but it's nothing, really. I already prepared a tablet, so don't worry." Looks like I still didn't know the code for 'don't mind me' when I was the guest. So troublesome.

As quickly as she had left, she came back with a tablet full of snacks and drinks. It was so packed that it seemed like she had put a lot of effort into preparing this. It sure was not _nothing_. No choice then, can't let the effort go to waste. It also looked damn tasty.

"Wa! I've got a good idea how to show you that I wasn't bothered preparing this." She put the tablet on the table, next to the magazines. If the mother had the same type of ideas as the daughter... I had a bad premonition.

She took a small block of Yōkan and faced me.[10]

"Say 'aaahh~'." Yuigahama's mother really knew how to make me feel embarrassed so much that I wanted to vanish into thin air.

Sable, who was still in my arms, poked my chin with his nose as if to say 'There goes the food in'. He probably got fed a lot this way.

"aaaahh~" Once more I was urged to open my mouth. Fine! But just one time.

I closed my eyes and while they were closing, I saw Yuigahamama's friendly smile changing into something ecstatic.

"Aaampfh?!" Instead of receiving the food my mouth was covered by a small hand.

"Wait, you can't do that!" My eyes shot open and saw how Yuigahama's mother made a 'aw, so close' face.

The owner of the hand stood next to me. Oh, Yuigahama regained her composure... or not. Her eyes were widened as if she saw a crime in the making. I mean her mother's action did put me in a tight spot, but I'm sure she just wanted to tease me. It wasn't that serious. Also shouldn't you look at your mother? after all she was the perpetrator behind this, not me. Her eyes made me feel like I was somehow at fault. Perhaps I couldn't see the rationality in all this because of the lack of oxygen I suffered from. Would you be so kind and release me please?

Amidst the small tension Sable moved up his head again and licked Yuigahama's hand. Was he still concerned about the food not getting into my mouth? What a good dog.

"Eeek!" My classmate pulled back her hand and held it close to her body while taking a step back and giving me an even stronger look.

Hey, hey it wasn't me! Damn that little rascal.

"Woof!" Yes, you were meant!

"A-anyway, thanks Mama, but we need to get going." But thanks to him speaking up, Yuigahama realised what really had happened, or she just wanted to gloss over it. I wasn't that sure when it came to Gahama-san's moments of enlightenment.

"Where are you going to? I'm sooo interested." She asked her daughter but since Yuigahama didn't know it herself, she glanced over to me. It was my turn to announce the destination.

"We're going to her room." With this my dating plan was out of the back.

However instead of thunderous applause, I got to see two pale faces that twitched in disbelief. I somewhat admired how in synch they were, what a wonderful mother-daughter relationship. But was my plan not good at all?

Yuigahama's mother was the first to get back to her usual expression.

"Oh my, how bold." With a hand a few centimetres before her mouth, she chuckled. Her daughter on the other hand had the colour returned to her face, an ever intensifying red.

Ah right, they probably got some misunderstanding since I was a boy and all, asking to enter a girls room. Don't worry, I'll clear that up.

"It's nothing like t-that. We're just going to study."

The chuckle turned into a full-blown laughter and Yuigahama's soul was about to leave her body. Hang in there! If you pass on it would turn into a quite disastrous dating experience.

Was 'studying' some kind of codeword for anything? My study sessions were always unspectacular, so I didn't know why it created a fuss now.

"I-i'm serious..." I opened my bag and presented the school utensils that were needed for what I intended.

* * *

Yuigahama's room was the same as last time, the desk still looked like nobody ever had studied there, the cute merchandise in the rag had become a bit more and the fried pasta, or room fragrance, still spread a pleasant smell.

After Yuigahama's mother had pushed her daughter into the room, repeating sentences like 'hang in there', she brought the tablet of snacks and drinks inside and took Sable from me. Everything calmed down. Time to start studying! If it only weren't for my studying and dating partner who sat in a corner far away and eyed me in a foul mood. I had a slight feeling that she didn't enjoy her date or something.

"It will be hard to explain anything if you keep sitting so far away." My plan would fail if this continued for the whole afternoon, so I beckoned her to come closer.

"Hikki... before I do anything, I need to ask you...are you taking the date seriously... _with me_?" Was her mood that bad? Well it wasn't actually the typical date out of a novel or soap, but I had good reasons for it. Sounded like a good time to explain myself.

"I do take it serious." I wanted to sound cool, but I was a bit hurt. She should know by now that there were some things I didn't do half-assed. "With you and this date. Studying is an essential part of it. As you might recognise, if you come closer, these are the notes from the make-up classes." I held them up to show her. "I know that you didn't follow the class properly, but in order to do my method I need you to copy it. After all, without passing the exam, we can't be in the same class anymore. I mean, it's not guaranteed even if we both get to the next grade, but it's 100% not the case if you fail. I feel like I would be happier with you in it..." Now wasn't that embarrassing? I sounded completely like fool with my voice getting weaker and weaker, and the way I played with my hair and my eyes that couldn't stay focused on something.

If that didn't restore her faith in me, I would be at a loss of what to do.

"Wa! How romantic!" I heard from behind the door. No, no it wasn't Yuigahama who couldn't stand my Hachiman point raising speech and tried to escape. She was still sitting in her corner, but with her back pressed against the wall and the mouth opening and closing like a fish. My clubmate didn't even react to her mother's eavesdropping.

I kind of expected that meddlesome mother to do something like eavesdropping. As I was in no position to shoo her away, I started a boring topic, so she would leave on her own. Maybe it might snap the fish out of it as well.

"All right I'll teach you my method, but only because it's too late for the normal way. Next year you have to try not to get in the position at all. I'll try too. So first you have to..."

She started all energetically, once she was back to her senses. But like during the make up class, Yuigahama had no endurance for studying. I had to set up several rewards to keep her motivated. It started with allowing her the snacks, but over time the effect of it got weaker. So I had to step up my game constantly, which lead to the current situation.

"Say 'aaaahh~'" Yuigahama had already a grunting face as it was the fourth time she demanded that.

"No, that would be..."

"But you were totally into it when my mother did it!"

"I don't remember that I was. She didn't leave me much of a choice, did she?"

"Then.. then I'll do that too! If you don't say 'aaahh' I'll...I'll..." If she only showed such determination towards the actual studying... my sympathy with Hiratsuka-sensei reached new heights.

"I know!" She said with a triumphant expression. "I'll tell Komachi that you didn't want to do 'aaahh' for me!"

"Why her?" I was pretty confused at that threat. Was there even a reasoning behind it?

"Because you care for her the most!" She shouted accusingly. Hey, quiet down, your mother will get irritated if she heard such a claim. Also that wasn't true. I cared the most for myself, Komachi was a close second though. At least that was what I'd like to believe.

"Mhhh... I still don't see what this has to do with feeding me..."

"Won't she get angry if you don't try reeeeaaallly hard here?"

"Ah, that might be true." But weren't there more things to consider? As I tried to wrap my head around it Yuigahama got more and more sulky.

"You know... you don't have to give it _that_ much thought... it kinda hurts..."

"That's not true. Surprisingly it's quite the important decision now that I think about it. It might give her the idea to feed me if you tell her." If Komachi truly was willing to do it, I wouldn't know how to calculate her points anymore.

"You would let her do that to you too!?"

"It's fine because we're siblings after all."

"Your sister, my mother... I'm the only one being left out..." You don't have to sulk that much. Of course I knew that the beginning of the date would put her in a difficult mood, but I was serious about keeping the possibility of going to the same class alive. Everything else though, developed on its own. Wasn't I the initial victim of the outrageous treatment by her mother?

Still, I did feel a little bit responsible as the one who thought up the dating course. Everyone managed to corner me today, even now I didn't have a real choice.

"Aaahh..." At long last I gave in to her demand.

"Hmpf!" Yuigahama turned away. The famous cold shoulder! Wasn't she eager about it a moment ago? I guess it wouldn't be satisfying if she had the impression that the other party felt forced to do it. Or she was simply playing to be hard to get now all of a sudden. I knew that feeling all too well though. It was a common dynamic between Komachi and I, where I would get ignored after saying something cool and clever. However, when she felt like her points have dropped too much, she would try to raise them with cheap methods again. But then it was my turn to ignore her in turn.

Didn't that make me a 'cold beauty'? Another proof of my handsome face!

Yuigahama didn't fit that role though. Even when sulking her aura was too warm to create that image. Yukinoshita on the other hand didn't even need to try, it was her natural state.

"If you don't do it soon I might change my mind." I tried my usual method, but...

"blllll" All I got as response was a stuck out tongue. This was troublesome, I already figured out what she wanted but I wasn't confident at all to be able to deliver it.

"Would you please feed me Yuiyui-sama?" A slight tremble! But was it a crack in the facade or anger because of bringing up the ridiculous nickname again? I decided to give it one more push as I had no other ideas left.

"I'll never eat again until you have fed me one Pocky, Yui." Damn, a slip of tongue, that was supposed to be the nickname as well. It just proved that I was still completely bad at being the proactive guy. [11] I hope she did it soon. How could I live without Komachi's food? But wasn't getting food from Yuigahama's hand an equally life and death situations? There wasn't a snack hidden on the plate that she had prepared right? I was on the verge of asking her but she responded to my plead beforehand.

"Hikki, would you... would you close your eyes?" Despite her head facing in the other direction I could see how red it was going by the colour of her ear. It was too late to pretend not to have seen it.

Yuigahama shyly glanced over her shoulder, her eyes were clearly moist. Although we have sat in the room for a while now, I felt like I was entering it again. The sweet fragrance from the fried pasta stimulated my nostrils, or was it the very scent of my classmate? Ever since the studying began we were sitting close to each other. At the moment it felt too close and the room seemed to shrink on top of it!

I gulped, and she must have heard it. She took it as a signal to turn around to me. My heart started to beat like crazy upon seeing her face fully now. It really was totally brightly red. And it became bigger and bigger as she got closer and closer. I quickly closed my eyes. That was too much stimulation for me and it got more and more. If a sense wasn't used, the others were enhanced. Who had not heard of that? If someone would told me that right now though, I wouldn't have heard it. The sound of my own heart beat dominated everything. Or at least I thought so.

"You have to open your lips a bit..." Whoah! that tickled. Why was she whispering in my ear? How close was she? According to my nose, very close. Opening the lips _?_ Didn't one say 'mouth' when it came to eating?

Could she really mean... French Kiss?! Would she go that far? Could I go that far? My head was spinning and as if I were under a spell, my lips did as they were told.

It didn't take long till something touched them, pushed them to open up a bit further, passed them and came into contact with my tongue.

That was the most sensual Pocky I ever experienced.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw a satisfied Yuigahama. It wasn't the expression of someone who was happy about pulling a prank. She probably didn't notice what I went through just now. For that I should have been glad, but a very small part deep inside me wasn't satisfied with just a snack.

Later this afternoon I looked at my phone to check the clock. It was about time to finish the studying session.

"All right, this should be enough for today." I started to put my stuff back into my bag.

"Already?! But, but...we can't do that. It's too early to stop!" Suddenly my study partner got all worked up, where was that energy just 30 seconds ago when she laid exhausted on the floor from all the studying?

"But, but... isn't it so late that we need to go?" Meh, that was a bad imitation. Why could I do it so much better with Yukinoshita and Miura? It was nearly like Gahama-san was too confusing for me to copy her well.

The straightforwardness of those other two made it so much easier.

"Heah? _We_?" The imitation was so bad, she didn't even recognise that I tried.

"Of course 'we', why would I want to go there alone?" I tilted my head in confusion like it was clear what I was talking about. Teasing was so much fun.

"But where? Right now? Uhh...What should I wear?" Wasn't she planning on leaving the house earlier? So I thought she was ready to go outside already, except for one thing.

"I doubt there'll be many people there today, so barely anyone would mind your hair. Just let us go."

"My hair?" Yuigahama softly touched the hair she had turned into a mess during the study session. Her hands had ravaged through it as if there was a hidden treasure somewhere containing the solution to a math problem by chance.

Once she confirmed the hairs' state she left her room without a word, and me alone in a girl's room.

Alright, time to sniff at her underwear! A wicked smile appeared on my face.

Yeah, like hell I would do that. It was such an obvious trap. Didn't the person who did such a thing always get caught in the middle of the act and ended up being in huge trouble? Not like anyone would do it in real life anyway.

As if to confirm me, Yuigahama's mother entered the room a little later. Was I glad that I didn't give in to the temptation.

"You're leaving?" She asked me curiously.

"Yes, if you allow me to take her to the place where we watched the fireworks together last summer that is." I told her so she wouldn't worry about her daughter, but her mother focused on something else.

"Summer? It's been that long? Shouldn't you..." Yuigahama's mother made a dramatic pause.

She wasn't about to ask me why I hadn't married her daughter yet right? The Sengoku-era has long passed! The modern people don't marry before their 30s anymore. A certain teacher was my proof for that claim.

Seeing me that I had broke out in cold sweat, she didn't pick up the sentence again. Hurray for the puppy protection phase when two people weren't close enough yet to cross certain lines.

Although she was the first one to practice that rule with me. So far I have been always picked on, no matter how few contact I had with everyone back in middle school.

"Hey, say..." She moved her face closer to ask secretly. "...have you kissed yet?"

What happened to the UPPP? According to me limited experience in that field I should even fall under the UP3! [12] I shouldn't be confronted with such questions, like at all. After the trouble I had with Isshiki, I preferred to keep kisses out of the first date.

I opened my mouth to say the truth, whether she would believe me or not, I didn't know though. But I had been honest with her the whole afternoon and even if it was embarrassing, it made no sense to change that now. There was someone else behind the mother's back, who had heard the question too. Judging from the downcast corners of her mouth, she didn't take it well.

"Mama~a!" Her voice sounded pained and had a notable crack in it. Yuigahama rushed from the door to my side and squeezed herself between me and her nosy mother.

"I'm sorry, but we have to go now." She avoided eye contact with her mother and used a strong, strict undertone. That must have been one of those secret girls talk Komachi had told me about. She was definitely angry with her mother. I wonder how loud she would get if I wasn't here. When Komachi and mom argued with each other it got pretty uncomfortable at home, the more so when the entry-exam got closer. That was a scary time as they usually worked in a team to keep pops under their heels.

Without waiting for a response from her mother, she pulled me along with her, making me nearly miss the opportunity to fetch my bag. I spoke some hasty thanks to Yuigahama's mother for the snacks, before I was fully abducted from the room.

Despite all this, her mother didn't lose her composure for even a second and wished us fun while smiling merrily. I didn't know if should be impressed by her acting or fear it. There was no way Yuigahamama's blood wouldn't boil under the surface.

* * *

On the way to the next step of the dating course, Yuigahama had first apologised to me for her mother's direct approach. But I assured her that I just took it as a mother being concerned for her daughter and I didn't feel pressured by it. At least not that much.

I felt more pressure from her hand, as she never had let gone of it. Not counting the time we had to put on our shoes. To that she giggled, but still didn't let go of the hand. I'm not being taken serious by anyone, ever.

"So... where are you taking me?" She asked, now back to her happy self, swinging our linked arms back and forth slightly. At least I didn't have to worry about cheering her up again.

"To somewhere not that far." Like Isshiki, I kept her in the dark about our destination. As soon as the Chiba Port Tower would come into view she should realise where we were going to. Compared to summer festival it looked quite different there without all the stalls.

"Oh! How pretty!" Yuigahama exclaimed once the mirror like walls of the port tower did its magic with the setting sun's light. She was right, it was really pretty. Even though for residents of this city it was a common sight to us. But some things were just simply beautiful that you get never tired of looking at them. I thought this way as I glanced over to Yuigahama, who was painted in the same light as the port tower. Uhm, Komachi was a great example of it and I didn't have to board a train to see her either. Komachi sure was great. Yepp.

Yuigahama suddenly lost her balance and now not only hands were connected.

Another thing a resident of this city should be aware of was that the train hit the breaks once the tower came into sight. One only remembered such trivial things after they happened again though. Couldn't expect Gahama-san to remember such little details.

Didn't this happen last time as well? The same soft touch as back then made me conscious me of a certain part from her body. I felt dumber than her right now, how could I have forgotten these huge details?!

Did these monstrous things come with a heating included? I sure got very hot, very fast and my face was probably beat red too.

"Sorry." She might have said that, but she didn't back off after regaining her balance. This girl had no sense for space of privacy.

"D-don't worry, wasn't your fault." I responded in a high-pitched voice. Were the breasts so big that the information of the contact got lost along the way or was she really fine with it? Unable to bear the sensation I took a step back, luckily it wasn't as packed as last time behind me, but in front of me the package was more packed than ever.

Suddenly my thoughts were filled with lactose intolerance and how it concerned the Japanese society.

Her hands were really on the small side though, since she immediately noticed my relocation transferred through it. With a small step she closed in, perhaps thinking that I wanted to pull her over. The new distance was notably shorter than before, but at least I didn't climb Mount Fuji anymore.

After I got off the mountain, we got off the train too.

"It's been a while since we have been here." I casually noted.

At first Yuigahama was puzzled, but then she realised...

"The festival!" She exclaimed. "I almost didn't recognised. It's so empty now..." Yuigahama then giggled and glanced over to me. "...kind of makes you feel cold without all the food stalls."

My classmate then snuggled up, interweaving her arm with mine. Her sheepishly smile looked cute enough to let this bold breach of border pass.

Food stalls, ah right, we checked a bunch of them out for Komachi's shopping list.

"The cotton candy stall was over there." I casually remarked without any special meaning.

"Oh, uh.. and the Ramune stall was over there!" Yuigahama got all riled up. "...and... and, the Takoyaki stall was here!" Did it turn into a memory competition while I wasn't paying attention?

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was beyond the Ramune stall." I corrected her, but not that it mattered where it actually was.

"Urgh..." My classmate's shoulder dropped as if she had been dealt a heavy blow. "..but, I totally remember the apple candy you bought me! That, that was very sweet of you." After the energetic begin, her voice grew softer, making me subconsciously move my ear closer. When it brushed her hair, the two of us noticed how close our heads were and our cheeks reddened quickly.

"I-I had to wait quite a while for you, I was worried the sweets would get cold." Trying to move on from the embarrassing moment I started talking without thinking.

"Sorry, but Sagamin just..."

Oh an unknown name was dropped, I had absolutely no recollection of the girl that had looked down on me upon first sight, dragged Yukinoshita into a workload that made her sick and than failed at the Cultural festival so hard that she tried to chicken out, which forced me to confront her with the harsh reality of nobody really caring for her so that she failed even more at the closing ceremony.

And somehow I ended up being the most hated guy on the campus.

Being in the centre of attention for a few weeks sure wasn't an easy time for me. But yeah, no recollection of her at all.

After the sport festival we came to the unspoken agreement to ignore each other's existence. For that reason I couldn't have any memory concerning her.

"Sorry." Yuigahama said, looking worriedly at my face. I wonder why it cramped up. Walking around on a date with a dark face was no good.

"I should be sorry here, oh we're nearly there." Better to move on quickly with the topic. Seemingly it worked. After a short phase of puzzlement, she lit up considerably when we walk up the hill.

Of course there were no VIP-seats here anymore, but an old bank should suffice.

After I motioned her to sit down, I took two things out from my bag and set them on fire.

"Back then we couldn't watch the fireworks alone... so here." I handed over one of the sparkler for my date to hold and kept the second for myself.

"Hikki, you... wow."

With the sun mainly gone, even the small fireworks illuminated Yuigahama. As the sparks flew away, the light and shadows danced on her face in a way that had potential to rob my breath. Her radiant smile competed with the fireworks about who was brighter, but I had to say that any jury had no choice but to crown my clubmate as winner.

I tried my best to focus on the sparkler, my gaze however, always found its way back to Yuigahama's face.

Fire was dangerous, so instead of facing each other and holding the fireworks between us, I had to turn my body away a bit.

This was much better, my mind came to rest. But so did my guard. Seeing me defenceless like that, my classmate seized this chance for a sneak attack. Soft lips left their first impression on my cheek.

With my eyes widened to the max, I turned back to the perpetrator and was at a loss for words. Luckily, she had no weird reaction, just a happy face of one who had successfully pulled a prank. As I was unable to recover from my state, her happiness turned into a loud laughter, she even had to hold her stomach.

Against better knowledge, I felt like I had been fooled. Thanks to that though, I was finally able to change my expression. What came out was a sulky face.

"At least let me prepare myself mentally." With arms crossed I once more turned away.

"But.. you...It's not like you would do it if I asked you before or anything, right?"

"Says who?" Even if this was the most logical assumption, I was still a teenager. Just from rebelling against unwanted guesses about how I would act, I got quite the boost in confidence.

It's like your mother telling you to clean up the room because she thought you wouldn't do it otherwise. You get all pumped up to prove her otherwise. Once she left the room though, that lack of trust totally stripped one of all motivation to do it. In the end one wouldn't do it, fulfilling her annoying expectations and giving her the victory. If by miracle I actually did as I was told, mom won too.

The mother always won and the son always lost. Just what was I doing to my own spur of confidence right now?

"You would really do it?!" Yuigahama cried out in disbelief.

"uhm, probably?" Her doubt didn't help to keep the little of what remained from my resolve together either. Nevertheless she decided to jump at the opening I presented her.

"Then, let's do it." Ah, so my resolve resettled inside Yuigahama and she used that energy for another attack on me. Wasn't it up to the donor whether he wanted to contribute to the spirit bomb?[13] I never agreed to this!

Oblivious to my internal nonsense Yuigahama's face closed in, only to coming to a halt halfway. She closed her eyes and presented me her lips for the taking.

Huuuuuh?! Didn't we talk about a kiss on the cheek? That was so cheeky, I cry foul play!

Urgh, fine. This was a date after all, so I shortened the distance as well. The closer our lips came, the more I panicked though.

"Looks like I can't after all..." I chickened out and averted my face.

Yuigahama pulled away as well, looking very displeased while watching the scenery from the hill. It was quite heartbreaking to do that to a girl, so I gave her a peck on the cheek like I had prepared myself too. This was my current limit.

Still, I caught her by surprise so much that all she did after the brief contact, was touching the spot where I had kissed her.

Haha, take that payback and cry! Actually no, please don't cry. I didn't want another round of nightmares. Contrary to the spiting thoughts I had to justify my actions for myself, the smile of mine was very gentle at that time.

"Hikki, you.." She never finished what she wanted to say and just lumped forward to hug me. However, we were still sitting on a bench, with both of us turned to each other. Our knees were already very close, and when she moved towards me, they collided. Because of this she did not cross all the distance and ended up with her face buried in my chest. Her knee must have hurt, at least mine did. She didn't come up and just remained there, hiding her face from me which was probably all red. 'What an airhead' I thought as I put my arms around her.

Embracing someone became quite easy after what had happened with Miura and Isshiki.

Feeling my hug, Yuigahama put her original intent into action as well.

"Thank you for the date, Hikki..." Her soft voice filled my heart with happiness. Even with the troublesome beginning, the date I planned turned to be out quite well. Being acknowledged felt really nice, so I returned the thanks.

"I have to thank you for going out with me..."

We remained like that for quite a while before I walked her home.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I looked out of the window at the dark sky and sighed. It was one sigh of many this evening, so many that I have lost count. Yui still had not called me about her date with Hikio. It might be naive to think she would break her silence on this topic especially this evening, though I had no choice but to hope for it.

If her reason all this time was that she lacked some kind of success story she could tell me of, this reason should have ended today.

Unless he screwed up big time.

His mysterious words of what he had planned, I couldn't make heads nor tails of it. Additionally, he didn't have a great record in romance, although that didn't seem to be exactly his fault according to the stories he had told me so far.

But still, all this had me on the edge the whole day. Failure would mean two friends of mine ended up being sad, while success had them both on cloud nine. It was obvious which result was the desired one.

At least that was what I was convinced of. In reality, I barely had any solid basis for thinking that a date gone wrong would make them both really sad. My impression of their personalities was all I had.

And Hikio's words that he liked several things about Yui.

He was a very emotional person, I was sure he would need comfort if something bad happened.

Yui was also an emotional person but without her telling me anything I only knew for certain that she cared enough to go on a date. Which wasn't a bad sign, but people dated often during their school lives and it wasn't a rare occurrence, that at least one of the pair didn't do it out of love but interest at best. If the expectations didn't match the result, those just went on and tried going out with someone else.

It hurt a lot not to know what your best friend felt.

I took a look on my phone to check the time.

Time moved on and each and every time the numbers changed it gave me a little pain.

"Yui..." I muttered and sighed again. Then the phone vibrated and I accepted the call before the ring tone sounded.

"Yes?"

"Ah... uhm...well..ehm..."

Instead of Yui's it was a male voice on the phone. A helpless one at that, which made it easy to guess who it was. His antics sure were something entirely else and as I imagined him being at a complete loss scratching his cheek, a smile formed automatically.

"What are you so surprised for? If you call someone you gotta be prepared to talk, you know?"

"Huh? I know that, I was just so surprised, because you immediately picked up. What was up with that? Didn't expect you to be, like, that desperately waiting for my call. Kinda makes me feel like being totally popular you knoooow?" My eyebrow started to twitch. Even after such an obvious blunder he was able to come up with a sharp retort. Did he underwent some crude training for that? I mentally noted to ask him next time I saw him, today though there was a more important matter.

"So?" Since he wasn't starting the topic on his own, I actively pressed on.

"What 'so?'? I don't know what you're getting at." No way that was true.

"The date." Unintentionally my voice became kind of strict.

"Oh, didn't I tell you about it already? I'm sure you even helped me out with Isshiki. Thanks for that again."

He clearly did that on purpose to tease me... or, did the date went so bad that he avoided the topic?

"Geez, I mean the date with Yui, did it go alright?" He should have no way out of the question now, I hoped.

"Well I guess so... I mean she had a home date, at her place of course, so that she could experience the full benefits of it. Isn't that the dream? I would like to have one someday as well."

"Huh? Home date?" My legs started to grow weak and I feared the worst, I even had to sit down on my bed. Was he still toying with me? That had to be it, there was no way even he would do something so... wrong.

"J-just to make sure, what exactly did you with her at her home?" My voice trembled in anticipation of the next outrageous thing he might say.

"We studied of course." He stated as it was the most natural thing to do on a date. This was too much, I started to scream inside my head and my body gave in completely, making me fall on the bed.

"Thanks for that as well." He continued. What? I was completely clueless to what he meant.

"Wait? Why are you thanking me?"

"Because I got the idea from you."

"NO!" I suddenly shouted out, getting even an 'ouch' response from him. My mind was thrown into disarray, only able to deny his claim instead of apologising for the raised voice. "No way I ever told you that, like, ever.. no, just no... no way..." What the heck gave him the impression I gave him such a horrible idea. I tried to remember where that could have come from, but there was really nothing I could think of. There was just no way I would ever do that. But what if I did? Then I was responsible for screwing up their chance.

No, no, no!

"What are you saying? You were very convincing back then after the marathon. Going that far, accepting the hardships of science, just for a small chance to stay together. If Yuigahama fails the make up classes I would lose that small chance as well, so I decided to help her with that. I was pretty mesmerised by your determination, so stop acting like it didn't happen."

What? My eyes blinked continuously as I tried to understand what he had just said.

"What did you say?" I heard the words but it was just too surprising to be suddenly told something like that.

"uhm... I wanted to help her moving on to the next grade?" He hesitated before answering in a nervous tone, omitting the part I would have liked him to repeat.

"Oooo." I let out a pathetic sound thinking 'don't tease me now.'. "not that, the last part."

"Well... wait, are you crying?" Hikio asked me with a troubled voice.

No I didn't. It felt just nice that my feelings were able to reach out and be conveyed by someone. So much that they weren't only recognised but were really felt. After such a long time it was kind of satisfying. It renewed my hope that Hayato was able to do the same one day. Soon. For Hikio to say something like that so casually, he really had a lose mouth once he started talking.

I wiped away whatever I had in my eyes. "Tha-" I tried to thank Hikio but he went on as I was just about to.

"You really don't have to worry that much, thanks to you it really went alright. See, she even fed me a snack." The only one who was worried right now was him, I could tell without seeing his face.

"Wait a moment." I placed the phone next to me, turning the speakers on and made myself comfortable on the bed. "Start from the beginning, would you?"

"Sure, the date started with her thinking I was peeking under her skirt." His matter of fact voice just said another outrageous thing as if trying to gloss over it.

"You did what?" I asked, not able to believe what I just had heard. It looked like I was in for a longer story than anticipated. Really, Hikio.

"Hey, I didn't do anything! I said: 'She thought I was peeking.'. I'm innocent, an animal lover even. I just anticipated that her dog would arrive first bumping into me again. He's quite the energetic rascal. So I was on my knee, waiting for him. I'm the good guy here!"

"I get it, I get it. No need to get so worked up." Did I hit a sensitive topic? Well, with this guy it was harder not to hit one.

"But there was that time in middle school-"

"Stop. I know, I'm sorry, okay? Just don't get side-tracked now." I knew it! Did he even have one good memory of his middle school? What was wrong with that school to treat him that badly.

"Ah, sure." I heard Hikio coughing before he continued. "So after that weird misunderstanding on her part, she was quite shocked, thus her mother was the one who invited me inside. She even offered me some tasty snacks and drinks. Of course I tried to politely reject her in order to not cause her any trouble, but she had already prepared some beforehand." Sounded exactly like Yui's mom. Hearing that I wanted to stay overnight at her place again.

"Luckily Yuigahama recovered before her mother started to feed me." They are still not on first name basis? Wait? He tried to hide another weird detail by saying it normally.

"She tried to feed you?!"

"Yeah, with all the 'say aaahh~' and stuff. It was pretty embarrassing to be honest."

"I can imagine that..." There was some rustling sound in the short pause he made, but I couldn't guess what he was doing. It only lasted like three seconds anyway.

"I revealed what we were about to do on the date, but despite not taking it so well, she still lead me to her room." If it were me with someone other than Hayato, I would have kicked him out right away of he had suggested to stay home.

"Although she didn't participate until I told her the reason for it." Figured.

"How did she react?"

"She was speechless, but her mother was all the more joyful."

"Yui's mom watched over you?" _That_ didn't sound like her at all.

"Not really, well perhaps, she eavesdropped a little.." My mouth formed a wry smile. Now _that_ was the mother I got to know. "At any rate, Yuigahama was cooperative from there

on, until she got the weird idea in her head to feed me like her mother tried to. Oh, isn't it getting kind of late? With school in the morning..."

What? Why so suddenly? It wasn't really all that late. Ah, something big must have happened next that he wanted to end the talk before getting there.

"That's not a problem, I made myself comfortable on the bed. Go on." I swiftly made sure that this wasn't the end for today. I definitely wouldn't want to miss out on what's to come.

"I-is that so?" Hikio's voice got all nervous and more rustling could be heard. The next part contained something huge, I knew it! I was already bursting from joy in advance.

"Where was I? Ah, Of course I refused, it's way too embarrassing right? But then she got sulky and even when I gave in, she didn't turn to me anymore. It wasn't until I said... I won't... eat something anymore... unless.. she... fed.. me once." _You don't have to push yourself if it's so embarrassing to tell that you can only whisper in bits and pieces._ I was really glad he did though.

An image of how I feed Hayato entered my mind and my face got so red that I had to bury it

into the pillow. Even if no one was in my room to see it, my body automatically acted that way. Hikio was right, feeding could put quite some pressure on oneself.

"What then? Did Yui do it?" There had been a silence, thus I had to told him to go on. He was probably imagining something too, like I did.

"She basically took command from there on, telling me to close my eyes and when she drew so near that my ear tickled from her whisper, she ordered me to open my lips. The air was full of her scent, I totally freaked out inside, but I couldn't do anything to resist her voice. When something entered my mouth..." Whaaa, so detailed! They kissed!? "...I feared it was a tongue at first, but luckily it was just a snack. I aged a hundred years in that moment." So they didn't? I didn't expect them to, but since he worded it like this I still felt only a very little disappointed at this. But he sounded so excited while telling me all the details, to that I could only laugh from the bottom of my heart.

Then a loud bang occurred on the other side of the phone.

"What was that?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh that? I just bumped my foot into something. No big deal." Contrary to his words the pained voice sounded like it was a big deal.

"You're really okay?" He told me the most embarrassing stuff, so why did he have a problem now to say that he was hurt? And why was he walking around in his room during a phone call in the first place? Was he that nervous with me? But then again, it took him some time to brave himself enough to give Yui a call too when she was absent due to her sickness. Him calling me didn't seem to be as a matter of course for him as I had thought. Even though he had gotten used to me talking face to face. Him opening up and do stuff like teasing me, was unthinkable just a little while ago.

"Uhm... ah, her mother then asked me whether we had kissed already."

"Seriously, you rather change the topic to _that_ instead of admitting you hurt yourself?" This guy... and this mother! "She really asked that in front of Yui?!" Her mother was surely straightforward at times, but to be that bold...

"Yuigahama was fixing her hair because it was about time to go outside, she wasn't in the room anymore. She had overheard the question when she came back though. It looked to me like she was quite mad at her mother."

"So you didn't stay as at her home the whole time after all?"

"Well, I didn't think she would tolerate a pure home date for whatever reason, thus I had planned another thing to do."

He did things in a weird way, but he always paid the extra consideration for others when it was needed, making him so reliable. I smiled instantly when the good memories of Hikio helping me resurfaced. Oh no, I couldn't get distracted now, there was one thing he had not revealed yet.

"Did you kiss her or not?"

"I didn't get to answer her as Yuigahama came back and lead me outside. But my answer to her mother would have been no."

"Oh, is that so?" What a let down. But that was to be expected, the kiss with _that girl_ had troubled him so much. "Where did you go to afterwards? The Karaoke bar?"

"Huh, no gosh, do I look like one of those cool kids? I took her to the nearby Chiba Port Tower. There was a festival with fireworks in summer which we had visited back then. Oh that reminds me, we did go to the Karaoke bar for her birthday already. But since Yuigahama is part of those cool kids, my participation doesn't really count-"

"H-hold it!" I hastily called out to interrupt him. How unfair to mention such huge events casually like they were nothing. Was it intentional to avoid certain topics? That sounded absurd considering how open and truthfully he told me everything thus far. I couldn't really put it past him either though.

"What is it?" Hikio's confused voice came through the phone, but for now I ignored him.

Which of these juicy topics should I choose? Birthday or fireworks.

I couldn't decide on what NOT to choose, I wanted to know it all immediately.

"Uuuurgh tell me of the festival then!" In the end I opted for the thing closest connected to today. He better don't think I'll forget about the birthday though.

"You don't have to listen if you don't want to." Waah, his shocked voice made me realise how annoyed my tone actually was. Before he took it the wrong way, I better try to assure him that I didn't mean it that way. Hikio was scarred enough as it was, I didn't ever want to become the source of a new one for him.

"I want to listen, definitely! To everything, no matter how long it will take!" I yelled too loudly in my phone.

"You know, we have school tomorrow. If you stay up that long, Hiratsuka-sensei will punch you." And there he opens another topic I was curious about. But at least his calm voice didn't react oddly to my volume. While I still felt ashamed about this outburst, it didn't hinder me from pointing out the flaws in his claims.

"Teachers don't actually hit their students though... " Also we don't have school tomorrow. Was he taking me for an idiot or was he just trying that hard to end the call?

"For real?!" He exclaimed in a exaggeratedly act of sounding surprised. Did he try to cover for my own outburst by pretending to do the same? He couldn't actually be that surprised about it, even to him this should be common sense... I hoped. Just how often did that happen between these two? I could recall at least two occasions. Again though, this wasn't the time to ask about it right now. Unfortunately.

"You went to a festival- with the club?" The next thing I could only whisper, hoping for a new story. "or alone with Yui?"

"To the festival? We went there alone. However for the fireworks, we took up on an offer from Yukinoshita's sister. So just for that part, we were watching it together with her."

That girl who was also childhood friend of Hayato.

"Did she butt in or what?"

"Thanks to her we could watch the fireworks from the VIP area. It was a decent trade-off for her presence." Was he fine with her being there or not? From what he said I couldn't tell which it was. Asking him might trigger a lengthy excursion though, just like any other topic of his. This was going on the list of topics I shouldn't forget about to ask him later.

With Hikio I wouldn't be bored for quite a while, this was an undeniable truth.

"What happened next?" I asked, because he didn't continue right away.

"Oh not much. We accompanied Yukinoshita's sister to her car and then Yuigahama forced me to walk her home with a cunning trick."

"Huh? No way! How? I don't think she would do that." Yui wasn't that type of girl. She was always friendly to everyone, acting selflessly to keep the atmosphere stable. If she was more proactive towards Hikio, did that mean she was just that serious about him? Or was it another side of her, unknown to me, because she kept it hidden? I was quite scared of the possible answer to this question.

"She totally did! Yuigahama started a whole new topic just before the doors of the train closed. I had no choice but to step out at her station as well. That was an evil trickery, I tell you! It took me waaaay longer to get back to my beloved home because of this. Isn't that unforgivable?" Hearing that I could relax again, it sounded like a coincidence. Even if it was intentional, it was entirely harmless. It definitely wasn't something to get worked up about.

"Don't you like your home not a bit too much?" Thus I asked him mockingly.

"It's completely normal to want to spend all your free time at home. I mean the outside world is full of bullies and people faking closeness to take advantage of you. Compared to that, there are only your family members to deal with at home and those don't even bother to fake closeness."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad! At the very least your family surely loves you." I refused to accept his words this time. He had to be exaggerating here, like the time he talked about his sister. From that talk I could tell that his family did have a special spot in his heart. And his heart was a good one, without a loving family he wouldn't have it.

"Well there are times when they keep nagging about me out of the blue, so I guess that sort of attention could be called parental love? Ah, but that also fits the bully category. Oh my gosh, if bullies express their affection that way, was I actually the most loved guy during middle school?!"

"Stop it with the exaggeration, I clearly remember how your sister praised you so much during the summer camp that I doubted it being all true. I believe that goes for your whole family."

"Sh-she did that? I have no doubt that my sister loves me, that's why I excluded her by speaking only of parental love. But the thing with the praising... I think she did that only to sell me off to Yuigahama or Yukinoshita. Her praises still count as love though, even if her intention was very rude." And suddenly he got all optimistic out of nowhere, sounding even flustered. How he made up his thoughts was still a complete mystery to me and thus I could only smile in wonder to these switches.

Ahh! We went way off-track without me noticing it.

"And there really didn't happen anything when you walked her home?" I knew he had already said to Yui's mom that they had not kissed yet. But if she was proactive enough to make him accompany her home, it wasn't unlikely that Yui went further and he was just too shy with her mother to tell her the truth.

"Huh? I never said that nothing happened..." Wait, what? So they had after all- "Her mom called her cellphone and she ran off. That's how that day in summer ended." I blinked a few times before I could react again. I had started to feel increasingly happy for them, but before that joy could even reach its peak he killed off everything with that addition. Describing the feeling I had now as 'unsatisfied' would be a huge understatement.

"You..." I couldn't suppress a rather menacing tone, but I didn't care enough to put more effort into sounding nicer. Hikio was doing this on purpose to me after all. He timed his words and pauses way too oddly, giving me false impressions. This couldn't be coincidental. Sending my feelings on a rollercoaster trip like this, it had to be intentional.

"Huh? But she ran..."

"Mmhh?" Using the same tone again I interrupted his excuse even if it seemed valid. But this kind of toying around with me I couldn't allow.

"A-anyway, I took her to the same spot on the hill as back then." Despite stumbling a bit Hikio continued where he had left off. ""Since we couldn't watch the fireworks display just by the two of us last time, I wanted to create such a memory today. I shared the fireworks I prepared beforehand with her to do so. Well, compared to the festival the sparkler was quite petty and she didn't wear a Yukata this time either... so it probably did kind of sell short."

No way it did! Yui would like it a lot, she has to. This was such a wonderful idea. It was so romantic I had not expect it at all from Hikio. This was the highlight of the date. It had been carefully planned through and customised to a point that it was only fitting these two persons and their shared memories.

"For me though it was more than enough, just remembering her illuminated face from the sparks makes me still dizzy..." When he said this dreamingly through the phone, my fingers dug into the pillow. I was already joyous from him sharing this with me this detailed, but...

"... how did Yui react?" This was the decisive point on how the date would remain in their memories. My voice was meek and shaking from anticipation.

"When I averted my face because I was so overwhelmed, she landed a kiss on my cheek..."

Great! My feet were kicking through the air as I laid on my stomach on top of the bed. Giggling without restraint as I congratulated Yui's offence in my mind. Well done Yui!

"So sneaky right? I wasn't even prepared for that."

"Oh stop acting like you didn't like it. Are you playing to be hard to get here or what?" I said happily in jest.

"It's not like it didn't feel good, I'm just saying that I would have liked to be ready for it..."

"I see, so you wanted to be, like, the active one then."

"That's the same loop of logic Yuigahama used!" Hikio exclaimed vigorously. "Somehow it turned the situation into her expecting me to kiss her on the lips. Do all girls think like that?"

My feet seized their moving mid-air, in fact it felt like my whole body came to a halt upon hearing this. Another huge chance for them to get together presented itself. With a lot of anxiousness I was only able to bring out two words.

"Did... you?"

"I.. I couldn't." His response had the tone of defeat in it. This meant he actually tried. I let out a long sigh as the tension left my body.

"Sorry." Most likely because he heard my sighing he felt the need to apologise.

"Don't be. It was too much for you to do so suddenly, right? After all you told me so far, it's understandable." Even so I hoped for more to happen between Yui and Hikio and thus I was sighing.

"Don't forget that her actions were quite cunning in the first place. It would have been wrong to let her succeed after using such evil schemes." Back to rebutting just five seconds after saying sorry?

"Huh? She was not doing anything bad!" Just how stubborn could one be? But I also had the impression that he wasn't all that serious with his last words.

"Whaaaaat? For real? Does that mean that I better should not have giving her some payback?" Or was he? His voice was convincing enough to make my face pale and I felt all the warmth leaving it. Oh my.

"What. Have. You. Done?" Even my voice got cold, but I was still collected enough not to shout at the phone as I pressed out the question word by word.

"Yikes! You know, just payback... the eye for eye kind of thing. So when she looked away from me I managed to sneak in a kiss on her cheek too." It took me a few second to let these words sink in and understand them. He did?

I buried my face into the pillow to silence my scream as much as possible.

"Aaaaaaaahh~"

With the pillow being drastically deformed from my action, the phone slid off the pillow, over my arm and towards the edge of the bed. In an attempt to catch it before it fell, I reached out to it. But my hands had held onto the pillow and the distance was too short to turn it around before reaching the phone. With quite the force, my backhand collided with it and sent the phone flying across the room.

"Oh damn!"

Being on all four I crawled off the bed and hurried after the phone.

"Ouch!"

My head collided with the desk-plate under which the phone had come to a halt. Instantly some tears formed in the corners of my eyes as I rubbed the hurting spot.

"What was that?" I could barely hear Hikio's voice calling out to me. The loudspeakers must have turned off from the fall.

"Don't mind it, I just dropped my phone." More or less. I might never hear the end of it, if I described it more accurately. He wouldn't let a chance like this slide, considering his teasing nature.

"You're crying?! Is really everything all right?" My whimsical voice had betrayed my effort to conceal the state I was in.

"It's fine, geez." I tried to back up my words with some pressure, but due to my nasal voice it came out pretty awkward. Even though I tried to keep him from asking further, he didn't let the topic go.

"It doesn't sound fine at all." He sounded truly sincere in his concern. Such a worrywart. It made me feel bad that I thought he would make fun of me at every opportunity. He was so unlike the male idiot trio of our group, who constantly mocked each other.

"H-how did she react?" I tried to go on with the actual topic so he would drop the current one.

"You know her, she can be pretty clumsy when getting excited. She ended up crashing her knee into mine. So what was that just now?"

"It was nothing." So stubborn. "Yui was that happy?"

"Nothingness can't make you cry. Well it might do, because it's you..."

"Ahem!" I coughed strongly to make him stop before he could say something rude.

"... who knows if it was happiness. She might have been simply upset because she wasn't careful enough to prevent my revenge. Did you see something tragic on TV just now? What's up with the tears?"

"No way I would do something like watching TV while talking to someone. You think I would be that rude?"

"Mhhh, it would bother me a bit, but just doing something else while talking to me would still be better than how people usually treat me. Like ignoring me outright, hanging up or not picking up in the first place. So even if it was normally considered rude, you would still be one of the good persons in my eyes. Ah, do you cry because the call lasted longer than you can endure me?"

"What? No geez, I just bumped my head okay? Don't make up such awful reasons, even as joke."

"Hitting something while being on the phone happens more often than I thought. I'm glad not to be the only one. Calls are so dangerous, I probably shouldn't do that ever again."

Ah that's right, it happened to him earlier as well. It made it less embarrassing, if only slightly. Of course I ignored his obligatory attempt to reduce the time socialising with others. If bad behaviour doesn't garner enough attention, kids usually stop their antics.

"Is Yui's knee fine?"

"Asking only about _her_ knee, huh?" I still couldn't tell properly what caused him to become very sensitive from one moment to the next. Not even if he really was effected by something or just pretended to be so.

"Sorry, was anyone of you hurt?"

"Thank you very much for asking, I was fine. Didn't notice any odd motions of Yuigahama when I walked back home either."

"Eh? that was it? The date ended so suddenly? Is that some sort of punishment for not asking about your knee? Are you that mad at me for real?"

"What? No. That's a weird question. One has to go back home after a date. Can't do anything about it. Unless it was a house date that is. They are really underestimated by society."

"There was really nothing more?" Another kiss perhaps?

"I never said there was nothing more, I only told you how it ended."

"Nice. What did you two afterwards?"

"Well afterwards... I walked her home. I feel like we're running in circles here." His confusion sounded legit, which made it all the more aggravating for me.

WAAAAAAAAAAHRGH! The scream echoed in my mind. He couldn't be like this for real, there was definitely some plotting going on at his end of the line. Hikio purposefully wanted to annoy me. I was sure of this.

"I heard earlier on TV that there was going to be good weather tomorrow." I said nonchalantly, but for the next part I dropped the temperature in my voice intentionally. "It's great and all for when I will see you tomorrow at the supermarket... In. Person. Right?" I had to remind him that the distance the phone created wouldn't last forever. For the last part I tried to sound as cheerfully as possible. "So is there really nothing you might have missed to tell me?"

A gulp was coming out of the phone first, but then he told me more of the date.

"Ohhh, I just remembered. She... kind of did thank me for the date while we hugged each other. But that was all." So that was really all huh? He probably scratched his cheek again while saying that. Yui was a nice girl so of course she would thank him. "H-hug?! Where did that come from?"

"Remember when she crashed into my knee? I somewhat pitied her back then and.. well, I'm not really sure why, but somehow I did that." Of course I expected him to cheer someone up with words, he was a very caring from what I experienced with him. But direct physical contact? That left me speechless.

When I cried last week he refrained from anything that added further contact. It could have been just an awkward situation for him, seeing someone cry was not a pretty sight after all. But even afterwards, when we were in a better mood, he always paid attention to keep a distance between us. Only when I dictated the closeness by grabbing his arm and keeping him in place, Hikio seemed to accept it.

How long did Yui and Hikio know each other now? Half a year? No, more. The tennis match was only a few months into the school year. Will it take him as long to warm up with me to this degree? Dropping his resistance to freely interact, just how he felt like. I hoped not and I didn't think that was the case. His teasing side was progressing way too quickly to imagine it taking so long. The rest was bound to catch up too.

Just naturally fooling around, smiling and laughing. Together with Hikio, Yui and everyone else. That was the scenery I wanted.

"Uhm, still there? She probably fell asleep. Well, it's school tomorrow anyway and Hiratsuka-sensei can be scary.. I better hang up now." I snapped out of my thoughts, did I really make him wait that long?

"There is no school tomorrow." For my goal I guess I have to be patient. "But we can stop for today though. We'll see each other soon again, so it's not like it's rally over. At the supermarket as usual, right?"

Yes, there was no need to rush. Things between him and Yui seemed to progress smoothly, so even after graduation he wouldn't be completely out of our world.

"Then uhm.." Despite wanting to end the call all the time, he couldn't without doing it properly. Even if it was hard for him. I guess I'll help him out as thanks for telling me all this.

"Good night, Hikio."

"Yes... good night to you too."

"Hikio? You did well."

After a short silence he ended the call.

Fuuuh, that was one tiring talk. Not that it was only a roller coaster, but keeping him on track wasn't easy at all. And avoiding his landmines was nearly impossible too.

All my limbs lost their strength soon after. With the head resting on the pillow the phone was still in my line of sight. But it was fun, hearing his innocent steps into romance and learning more about his true relationship with my best friend. It was truly a good harvest tonight.

If only I could have heard this from Yui.

But even as I laid there awake for another half an hour, waiting for her to call me, the phone remained silent.

Should I text her how her day was? No. I put the phone down next to the bed. I had to be patient. She will probably tell me soon. Tomorrow maybe. She must just be exhausted from the date as I was from the phone call.

I rubbed the spot on my head which had hit the table earlier. How could such a thing even happen? It was a special call in more than one sense, the first one with Hikio.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Who was the idiot to set up an appointment this early in the morning? I could barely get out of the bed today. Why should I even? It was a Sunday. There were many more of these questions on my mind, but I didn't want to answer any of these. In the end it was all coming down to me, yesterday's hardships and the upcoming event on the day after tomorrow. The third of March would be on that day, one of upmost importance. For that I organised today's assembly with Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.

Last evening, after I ended the call with Miura I fell asleep quickly. The date with Yuigahama went smoothly and even my expert for this stuff gave me her approval. I could sleep without regret. With all the tension gone, I felt so tired that I noticed just how much I was needing some rest. The date was already taxing enough, but the phone on top of that was an overkill for me. Talking alone with Miura wasn't that much of an issue anymore, but did she have to say that she was on the bed like I was at that time? Imagine laying on the bed and the school's most beautiful girl talks directly into your ear, of course one would feel tense. I couldn't lie still from that point anymore. When she laughed so sweetly, I felt like a goblin was about to possess me.[14] I never sat up so quickly on my bed as in that moment. But before I could get off for good, my heels crashed into the bed frame.

Phone calls were way too dangerous for someone as me. Finding a way to prevent others expecting me to do them, was of upmost importance.

Miura would probably prove to be the hardest opponent on that matter. I couldn't really tell who was in charge yesterday. Since I was the one calling it should have been me. But she surprised me right from the get-go, and after her bewitching laugh I seriously struggled to remain in control of the talk. But when she went on the offensive, I had no defence left to speak of.

Thus it was unexpected that she allowed me to finish the call that easily. The Queen showed some generosity to the peasants, huh? And I even felt grateful for that, urgh. This made the whole image of a social ladder a lie. Ladders could be climbed, but I had not advance one step on it.

Robbing me of the concept of an enemy was a strategy of nobility. I desperately needed an opponent for the upcoming battle to prevent further calls. She is way to skilful at handling people. An amateur like me couldn't hope to stand a chance.

I looked at the clock. Damn, thanks to me sleeping this long I had no time for a proper breakfast. My gaze fell upon a little box I got from Miura yesterday. The Miso Peas. Well, she said herself I did well yesterday. I'll just treat the box as reward for that.

So much for returning them.

After the bliss from digging into one of my favourite snacks, I sneaked out of the house without my sister noticing. I had no time for an embarrassing interrogation on two delicate matters.

* * *

"Isn't this totally cute?" A girl holding a dog plush said.

"She would probably be more satisfied with this." Another girl holding a cat plush responded to the first girl.

"But she seemed to have so much fun with my dog..." Girl A didn't back off.

"If she preferred dogs she would probably own one instead of a cat." Girl B tried to reason with Girl A, but I doubted there would ever be an understanding between a cat-only person and a dog-only person.

"See? See? That's exactly why we should get her this dog, since she already has a cat after all." A sound argument from the first girl. I must confess it surprised me a little.

The second girl put her hand on the chin trying to think of a way to convince the other. "It might put too much stress on the cat to see a dog inside the house."

She was showing the concern for the wrong being. The one to get the present should be the one fine with it, right?

"She did say that the cat was bothered by the dog last time... but... but... Ah I know! Let's just ask him which one–" Both of them looked my way for whatever reason. The two girls went stiff the second our eyes met each other.

"Hahaha, let's look for something else." Y#1 put the dog back onto the shelf. "He doesn't seem to be fine with plush toys... what a scary look"

"Perhaps something more practical would be better?" Y#2 proposed but kept the cat in her hand for a while longer.

What's with the scary comment? Yuigahama and Yukinoshita should be used to my face already. I sighed and turned my head to look for something else myself.

Woah! What a scary guy! Yakuza?

I was so startled that I didn't realise that I saw my own reflection in the mirror.

Did I had that look on my face for the whole day? No wonder why they couldn't settle for a present if I looked that serious.

Not that I could help it though. Komachi's birthday was that serious to me.

My sister was probably fine with whatever they gave her, but the hurdle of pleasing the brother was too high for them to overcome.

I lost count on how many times I had seen this scene already. They spotted something they liked, argued about it, looked my way for confirmation and then put it back to look for something new.

We would never get done this way.

I stopped in front of another shelf. This might do...

"Oi, what about this? It's not expensive either." I called out to them. Even if it was for my sister, I couldn't just let other people spend too much on her. Our parents were spoiling her enough as is already.

"Didn't he say he would leave it to us?" Yukinoshita remarked as she moved over to me.

"His affection for Komachi-chan is very worrying... but this looks very plain though." Yuigahama remarked as she inspected the item I had presented them.

"Fool. It's about the symbol. If you explain it properly she will love you until the end of time... oh wait, I probably shouldn't let you gift her something so effective." Before I could put it back though Yuigahama had snatched it away from my hands.

"I don't really get the symbol stuff, but looks like we found a super good present."

"I think I understand what he is aiming for with this." Yukinoshita hit the mark with her following explanation. Thank you very much for that sharpness of yours, number one ranked in Japanese. NOT.

"Yukinon, let's look for a better design hehehe." My other club member suggested.

Damn, now it was pretty much impossible for me to top that present.

Like the girls did earlier, I continuously picked up items, evaluated them and put them back after not deeming them worthy to be the best present ever. Unfortunately I raised the bar myself that high.

Being an Onii-sama was not an easy path in life.

Unable to decide for quite a while what was the right present, we took a break to eat at Saize.

To be accurate, the girls ate, while I was grabbing my head in frustration.

"Hikki, don't you overdo it? If I'm stuck, I always take a break."

"If all you do is take a break you'll never get things done." Like a mother Yukinoshita reprimanded Yuigahama. "However, sometimes it's wise to take a step back to see something you previously had overlooked."

"That! That was what I meant!" My classmate cried out.

"Sure... " I mumbled without thinking beforehand.

"I really did! Uuugh.." Now I made her sad.

"That is very unlikely, didn't your mother teach you not to lie?"

Shouldn't she be asking that herself? Yukinoshita seemed more of a strict manner-teaching mother to Yuigahama than the actual Yuigahamama.

The newest club member addition sprawled over on the table, defeated by her foster-mother.

Before the club president could deal the finishing blow, the conversation was interrupted by me.

Grooowl. To be exact my stomach interfered.

"Ah! No way you could find something with an empty stomach." Another birdmen logic from her, but at least her spirit was restored. That was her most potent skill, and maybe the only one she had. There was barely anyone else who could come back so quickly after being talked down. I have seen that numerous times with her. I might have grown soft because of yesterday, but weren't we a bit too hard on her sometimes?

"You might be right."

"She is?" Yukinoshita was as surprised as I was by the words that came out of my mouth.

"I guess so?" Before I could be enveloped in a conversation in which I wouldn't find a single argument to support my agreement, I wanted to stand up and get me a meal myself.

"Oh, here." Aware of my intention, she was quick to pick up on these kind of trivial things, Yuigahama presented me a bit of her own dish.

"Say aaah~"

I shouldn't be blamed for my mouth opening on its own, I was hungry after all. It couldn't be an instantly conditioned automatism, right? She wasn't some kind of secret genius trainer, I hoped.

Yukinoshita watched the scene in front of her with widened eyes.

Now that I thought about it, it was the first time Yuigahama brought something up that happened yesterday. Up till now there wasn't any difference from our usual group dynamic. Most likely out of concern for Yukinoshita, who was the only one still waiting for her turn in this dating cycle, she paid attention not make her feel left behind.

Frozen in midair of standing up, with my mouth opened, I tried to think about what to do now. Yuigahama also became stiff when she realised that she ruined the effort she had put in so far.

I concluded that I shouldn't leave them alone with a situation like this. Not that it would turn into an argument between friends. Thus I sat down again without eating what was offered to me. My heroic sacrifice to endure the hunger would probably not honoured accurately.

Both, Yuigahama and I, were red to our ears, but thankfully Yukinoshita didn't pry into this matter, not even voicing a complaint of any sort. Instead she started a new topic to give us a way out of the situation.

"What does Komachi-san wants to do on her birthday?" At some times, she actually was the well-behaved girl everyone thought her to be. It might have been the first time I ever was on the one receiving it though.

Nevertheless, it made me feel like I was indebted to her. I should try to make her date very comfortable for her.

"Our parents will take her to a restaurant in the evening, but before that I guess she wants to spend time with her brother at home the most." That should be the most logical assumption.

"After all you made us go through you don't have anything planned yet?" Yuigahama remarked astonished.

"Didn't you listen? I clearly said the LOCATION of the EVENT." What's with these popular kids these days? Everything home-related seems to have been banned from their vocabulary. No home-dates, no home-birthdays... what's next? No home-sleep? Like hell I want to be a homeless.

While Yuigahama was making a sour face to my katakana, the ever so quick on the uptake club president directed a very problematic question at me.

"You basically want to invite us to your home?" She was right, that's what I had said. Although, I never had that in mind. Can't a brother just fantasise some quality time with his sister alone at home?

"Actually no. Komachi would just get all excited and clean the whole house if she awaited you as guests. Better not to make her go through all this effort while she is still recovering from the entry-exams."

"Hikki's home... you could help her out." Yuigahama was really excited out of nowhere. Didn't she see our living room already when she brought Sable over? No need to get worked up over revisiting. Well she went 'ohh' and 'woah' at the most mundane things, to a point it was actually annoying. Or did she expect to have the party in one of our rooms? What if she separated from the group using shady reasons like going to the toilet? I wouldn't be able to monitor her all the time, especially with other guests present. If she was spying around the house she would probably look for my underwear and sniff at them right? Beautiful girls always do such stuff in eroges to the unpopular outsiders. It was probably because she was a dog person that she had no choice but to sniff around. What should I say to prevent that horrible scenario?

"We can't do that, Komachi's sick right now." Perfect reason found, I was so proud of myself that I wanted to pat my own shoulders.

"That's why you should... help her?" My classmate looked terribly confused from my response seemingly having no impact on her solution she already provided.

"If she is so sick that she can't even get started with the cleaning, I can't even help out." Looks like she still didn't get it. Even Yukinoshita was failing to see behind my reasoning according to her tilted head. Thus I had to give some further explanation. "Helping is per definition only a support, If there is no action to support, then the help is obsolete."

"If she's sick, why don't you clean the house on your own?" Oh, I never thought Yukinoshita would be interested in sniffing underwear as well.

"I can't. It's against my principles." I said firmly while crossing my arms.

"That's odd coming from a house-husband to be." Yukinoshita flicked her hair while giving me a mocking smile.

"I'm shocked club president-sama!"I exclaimed overly dramatical. "Isn't it the core principle of our very own club? Teach them how to deal with their own problems, but not letting anyone abuse us as some cheap handyman! Right now I can embrace the Service Club's spirit so whole-heartedly like never before!" A sarcastic grin spread on my face which was creeping my club member out so much that they pushed their stairs away from me.

"Strange. It sounds so horrible, yet I cannot find a fault in your wording. If you twist it like this, I suddenly don't want to be affiliated with this club anymore." Hearing Yukinoshita saying this, Yuigahama suddenly behaved quite unusual.

"Huhuh, it totally makes you feel like being a bad guy for some reason. I don't like that at all." She stared into her president's eyes as if she wanted to transmit her thoughts. Obviously this shouldn't be possible, even among the girl society, unless it was Yukinoshita's fault as she was so not part of this girl society in the first place. All she did was tilting her head in wonder of what Yuigahama was trying to do.

As she made no progress with Yukinoshita, my classmate simply went into action.

"Yukinon, let's quit the club."

The two of us were deeply shocked upon hearing these words.

"Wha...?" I at least nearly managed to get a whole word out to question the meaning of her words, but Yukinoshita was completely unable of a reaction. What was going on?

The one who had dropped the bomb grabbed her friend's arm and and pulled her of the chair.

"Let's go Yukinon." Like a puppetmaster with her puppeteer she lead the, seemingly now former, club president away from the last remaining member.

"You can't be serious...?" My joy of bringing forth a full sentence under this condition was non-existent.

Step by step these two moved away, Yuigahama said something into Yukinoshita's ear, but the distance was already large enough for me not to understand her words.

Yukinoshita nodded! And now they picked up their pace. Were they really going to leave me behind? I didn't think my words were that bad actually to be the source of this development. Cool Hachiman, stay cool. At the very least Yukinoshita had to be able to recognise that my statement wasn't to be taken all that serious. If I think calmly I should be able to-

Ack! They were already about to leave the family restaurant.

"Come back, you can't leave me alone in the club!"

Yuigahama stopped in her tracks and looked back to me grinning like she won a competition. It was very annoying to be the one losing to one of Gahama-san's schemes, if only I had more time to look for a solution. I always knew that deadlines were my mortal enemies.

They came back to my table and Yuigahama spoke to me.

"You said something?" Was it the first time I heard her mocking tone? Yukinoshita's behaviour must have rubbed off on her after all this time.

"Nope." I sure didn't say anything.

"And what is this?" She pushed the display of her phone way too close in front of my face. If I didn't have known the content already, it would have been impossible for me to read it at this distance. And I got defeated by such a person? Urgh.

"Who knows? A text message perhaps?" Like I ever would create a scene in a restaurant by shouting out loud.

"Teehee, for someone, who badmouths the club all the time, this text was all wuuaaah, wuuaaah and totally desperate to the max. Right Yukinon?" I'm not some whiny child, even Miura wouldn't go wuuaah either.

Yukinoshita took a look at the phone after it was presented to her in a more usable manner than when it was shown to me.

"Indeed." She looked at it rather intensively. "I'd like a copy of that."

"No problem, here you go" A second later Yukinoshita's cell phone vibrated.

"I didn't know you were that interested in what I write."

"Don't be silly, this audio recording will serve as good blackmail material, no... slave whip perhaps?...ah insurance for when you're slacking at the club again." Woah, should I count that as an effort to sugarcoat her words or did she aim to scare me out of my mind?

"Demon, are you even trying to-"

"I think Hiratsuka-sensei would like have a copy of it too. Oh you wanted to say something?"

"Not a thing mam." I felt the lash that bounded me to the club getting shorter and shorter. Yukinoshita resembled her mother so much this moment.

"It's good to see you truuuuely caring about the club after all. To me too... it's very precious..." Oh now Yuigahama was trying to be nice again huh? Too bad, it was payback time.

"Of course I care about preserving the club, after all Komachi might like to see it."

"You did that just for your sister?" It was like she didn't know me the slightest.

"Haeh? Why else would I?"

"Oh you! Now I really feel like quitting!" Sweet revenge was sweet.

Talking about Komachi reminded me of our actual topic again.

"Just where do all these popular girls go for their birthday nowadays I wonder. It's like I have no clue at all." I glanced at Yuigahama.

"Hmpf." As expected she entered her sulking mode after I drove her crazy again. The option to get her back to normal from last time couldn't be applied now with Yukinoshita being around. "I wonder if there is a club or something filled with nice people in it that could me help to _learn_ what those kind of girls like to do on their birthdays. If only it did exist, I would be super grateful and all that. Probably."

Yuigahama visibly twitched with her whole body and it seemed like she would only need one little push to give up her resistance completely. "Isshiki knows all the hot and trendy stuff right? Asking her seems like a good idea as she is the closest in age with Komachi. Too bad though that there is no one willing to share their knowledge who actually knows my sister."

Even Gahama-san would see through the most obvious provocation I ever formulated. And indeed, her eyes gave me quite the intensive glare. For her level that was. It was still miles away from when people like Miura and Kawasaki had their stand off, or when Miura and Isshiki competed over Hayama... or Miura and Yukinoshita over Hayama's past... just who did I end up adding to my contact list on the phone yesterday?! She seemed so harmless with me that I forgot all those heated occurrences. However one couldn't even compare all that to the cold eyes of Yukinoshita's mother.

"Fine." She said finally. "Yukinon, let's help Komachi-chan out as she has this completely useless brother." Oi, no need to be that harsh. Graduating to an Onii-sama required years of continuous dedication and solving many situation of life and death to please the whims of a world-class sister.

"For her sake it does seem like the best course of action. It would be cruel of us to leave it to her incompetent brother."

"yeah, yeah, thanks for taking care of her. I'll go and look for a present meanwhile." Their words pained my heart so much that I had to retreat from the scene. Just kidding. It was simply the opportunity for me to look further for a present in peace. From the way they chatted with each other, I figured that the almost-feeding incident had lost its impact already. One thing less to worry about.

"Wait. Before we can conclude on what we can do for her birthday, we need to know how bad her condition is, Hikigaya-kun."

"Oh yes, yes, you said she was like sick or something."

"Indeed I did... she has severe may sickness. So a birthday party at home is no option this time." I quickly thought up a reason and tried to sell it with a serious, deep voice and a stern look. At least with guests that was. A sister and brother only party at home was more of a cure than a bother.

"So it's really no good huh?" Yuigahama whispered to herself. When I created a bit of a distance I heard her questioning her friend behind me. "Yukinon, what's this may sickness?"

My pace increased rapidly while I headed for Saize's exit.

Without any disturbance I quickly found a suited gift for Komachi, I even had time to get a piece of candy on top of that before my phone vibrated. It was Yuigahama wanting to know where we could meet up again as they had settled on what to do for my sister's birthday.

From the meeting spot we went directly to a fitting location and made a reservation for Tuesday. I received a lecture by Yukinoshita and Yuigahama on how may sickness was no real sickness, but over the course of my defence the subpar student among us switched sides and so I won 2:1. I must say that I quite enjoyed how we spent our time and the sight of a slightly sulking honour student.

Afterwards it was time to go home and rest till the shopping had to be done.

* * *

With only three hours worth of rest, I made my way sluggishly towards the supermarket. The lack of free time was paying its toll on my mind and body. That, or I started to feel homesick from just stepping one foot out of the door by now. This meant my relationship between home and me took the next step in evolution for mankind. Wow, it sure did sound amazing of me.

So why did someone as great as me had to spend precious time on such a menial task again?

At least with Miura it wouldn't feel as long. Because she would keep my mind too busy with all the talking, I wouldn't even have the time to think about time processing.

Unlike now. Each step was filled with boredom and impatience, could the grocery store not appear already? When I ate the Miso Peas this morning, I was reminded of the phone call with their previous owner from the night before. Ever since then a thought was stuck in my head and I couldn't wait to confirm the mental imagination which I couldn't shake off.

I sighed, so disappointing...

"What?" Miura asked me with quite the irritated expression. Well, that was understandable. When she arrived here, I had stared intensively at her forehead and just sighed out from my crushed expectations- no, dream! Vision even! It looked so cute in my head after randomly imagining it while eating the peanuts.

Hauuhh, no Miunicorn. Not even a little horn was to be seen. My imagination had been running wild ever since, increasing the size of it each time I passed the toy section with the unicorns, to the point it wasn't humanly possible anymore. I nearly bought a unicorn as gift for Komachi's birthday too because of it.

"I just wanted to check whether you were hurt badly yesterday." Which was true, and good for her that it had not been the case, I guess.

Her hand reached automatically to the spot she had hit her head on. So it really was the forehead, such a waste for no horn to show up.

Could I ever look at this madly blushing girl again without thinking of something horny though?

"Could you please not bring that up..." Could you please stop being all embarrassed, I don't know where to look.

To avoid starring at her I turned around and looked for something that was on my shopping list to keep myself busy.

"Thanks." I heard from behind.

For what? Shouldn't it be more like 'sorry' for not being a Miunicorn?

As requested from me, I didn't bring up anything from yesterday's call and thus Miura's face regained its normal colour. Maybe that was an early thanks for that?

Luckily, or rather unluckily, I had enough stories left from my past. Like always Miura proved to be a good listener. While I was standing in front of the snack section of the grocery store to quickly check whether there was anything worthwhile to get for the birthday party, Miura looked at me with suspicion in her eyes.

"Don't tell me you got addicted already." Mh? What did she mean by that? Oh, I realised that subconsciously placed myself directly in front of the Miso Peas.

"There would be nothing wrong with that, even if it were the case. For a citizen of Chiba that is."

"Just because we're pretty much the only ones eating them, it doesn't make us special in any sorts, when dealing with their side effects."

"Side effects?" Was I actually about to get trumped in Chiba Trivia?

"Peanuts actually contain a lot of calories, you have to watch out not to eat too many of them." Ah no. Just the worries of a girl in the spotlight of the school society.

"Sounds like you endured some tough battles..." Miura nodded, looking downcast to my remark with her shoulders dropped. So she could keep her self-restraint despite liking them a lot? Pretty impressive. "Kinda makes me feel pathetic for eating them in one go... oh by the way, thanks for them. They were quite tasty."

"I'm glad you liked them, whom did you share them with?"

"Why would I share these tasty... I mean that present with anyone? That would be quite impolite, don't you think?"

"You ate them alone?"

"Like I said, presents should be cherished by the one who received it."

"The whole package?" She pressed on the matter rather seriously.

"I-It's okay, since I get to eat them so rarely." Why did I feel like I needed to justify myself over a single package of a snack? To the person who gave it to me?!

"It's not ' _okay'_. Even if you eat the peanuts not that often, calories are not the only danger. They add a ton of sugar for miso peas, and you kind of have a thing for sweet stuff, don't you?"

"How the heck do you know that?" I was caught by surprise. Yuigahama didn't talk about me within her group, so much was sure from Destinyland event. Did she spout random stuff about me when she was only with Miura, similar to the Yumiko-trivia she randomly drops in the club? No, that shouldn't be the case either. So far everything I told Miura was new to her and we had talked quite a lot recently. If Yuigahama really talked about me to her, she should have known two or three things before I told her.

I don't think she saw me eating all that often in the classroom, not that I ate sweet stuff in school regularly at all in the first place. It was not within the budget my mother gave me for lunch. Thus I concluded her being a good observer shouldn't be of any help to her here either.

So how? Usually I would label someone as stalker out of fun, but that thought was just too absurd with Miura. She had such a straightforward personality, instead of stalking, she would just go directly to the person in question and demand address, number, keys, credit card information with such determination that anyone would comply.

"Am I wrong? Hayato said so didn't he? On the day he tasted my Valentine chocolate."

My sweet tooth became an attachment information from eavesdropping on Hayama... one more reason to stay away from that guy.

"I see.. well it's not exactly wrong. Actually it is pretty much the truth. It's one thing to notice when I was consuming sweetness itself like Hayama, it's on a whole new page to remember it from hearsay. That kind of made me loose my cool for slight moment here."

"ah? What coolness are you blubbing about? Yours?" What a harsh comment, but luckily she was only teasing me. Hopefully... She laughed with me, not at me, right? Even if I wasn't laughing.

"I'm super cool actually. The less energy something spends on moving around the cooler it is. By law of nature itself, I, who is mostly at home not moving one bit, is super cool."

"Since you stuff that much energy into you, your fat _here_ probably turned you into a heater already." With a swift movement of her free hand she grabbed into my side with force. If it weren't for the thick coat I would have let out more than the small squeal I did.

"Huuuuh?" That should have been my line at the very least, but strangely it was Miura who expressed her puzzlement. Her hand moved around like predators hunting for their prey. From one side to the other, over the stomach and on the hips, touching and grabbing everywhere. This was pure molestation. Only one middle-aged staff worker had heard my leak of voice and she kept only staring at me in wonder. If Miura's and my role were switched, it was a given that not only would she receive help, but I also would wake up in a prison cell on the next day. For whatever reason it seemed to be fine if I was the victim.

"Aren't you a couch potato? There should be at least one curve somewhere..."

"It's not like I eat sweet things all the time..."

"Still you had a full package just yesterday."

"It really doesn't show up so quickly..."

"Hmpf, this is so unfair..." After Miura said this, her frustration culminated in another deep grip into my side. What was unfair was this treatment. The coat could only absorb the impact so much that it didn't hurt, unfortunately the remaining pressure gave me a rather ticklish feeling.

Time to recite some Buddhist prayers and meditate. Ooohmmm... Nothing can affect me... Oooohhhmmmm... So calm, such relaxed face, much success...Oooohhhhmmmm. I endured it like a real monk.

Suddenly, Miura showed me a smile. Surely because she wanted to praise my efforts on the path of enlightenment. So why did it make me feel like running away at top speed?

The movement of her hand became quicker, more forceful and very erratic, in short more wild. I hereby name thyself Torako.[15]

Instead of looking at my stomach she never took her eyes off my face. It was so irritating that my meditation was on the brink of collapsing. It was so hard to concentrate on remaining calm despite these relentless attacks, that my face twitched shortly in a super manly way of trying too hard.

"You smiled." She sounded like she had accomplished something great. My Buddhism was treated as a challenge to be torn down huh?

"No way I smiled, you smiled!" In hindsight this wasn't my best retaliation ever, not even close to the top ten actually.

"I did, so what?" Yepp, this was the reason why. Someone like Miura wouldn't have a problem with smiling at all. Her whole group within the class was a gathering of smiles, laughter and sunshine, no matter how fake it occasionally seemed to be. Because of my foolishly quick response, I was at a loss on what to follow up with for a moment.

"You should do it more often." She filled the gap of silence with a weird request. But wait a minute.

"I smile plenty as is already." Now that I thought about myself smiling, quite a few of memories came flooding in.  
Since normally barely anyone spoke with me, I had to talk to myself on my mind to make up for the human desire to express oneself. And wow, were those high quality conversations. In fact they were super entertaining as well.  
That wasn't even the only source for my smiles, there were also books that made me snickering. Although I stopped bringing light novels about evil gods to school after Yukinoshita and Yuigahama pointed that supposedly 'gross' habit to snicker of mine out.  
So the chuckles I made now while reading other books were totally fine, since that was never brought up again. I just hoped they weren't too crept out to mention it again.

And lastly there was also my world-class sister. Since she was my sister alone, thinking and smiling about her made my smile superior that of everyone else. So being the loner that I am, I had lots of time to think about her. In conclusion I smiled way more often than I would do inside of a group. Within a group I would just stay silent to not get in the way of the current conversation. And with less time to speak myself, the quality of the talks would be of a lower level than what I was used to with just me. Thus I doubt I would have as much fun too. My free time to spend reading or thinking about my sister would take a huge hit as well. Thus I concluded that I lived my life in the best way possible to protect that smile of mine.

A loner's way of living was really the best, not that I could have endured any different conclusion anyway. Another successful attempt at self-preservation, another good feeling. A wicked smile showed up on my face.

"Gross. I didn't mean that smile." So this really wasn't any good? The only other smile I could think of was that of pity I showed Komachi and Gahama-chan when they sprouted idiotic nonsense again.

Miura placed her free hand on one of my cheeks to shove it upwards and form a new expression on my face.

"That one is much better."

That position felt oddly similar. But without the pain from the muscles, who let the my classmate do all the work of keeping the flesh up, it was a bit hard to recognise. It was roughly the same unusual smile that I had shown to her just recently. Not that I was in the mood to smile now. After having being molested already and now being played with without any concern for distance, I wanted to show my disapproval. However, that was quite hard with just one half of my face being under my control.

"Haha, that look, heck, you're totally lame!" For some reason my mouth looking like └─┐ was very amusing my 'friend'. 'If you had friends, you wouldn't have a need for enemies.' or so the proverb went. Being friendless had been such a peaceful time. Except for the enemies that were out there regardless. Although there was just one enemy for me back then. The world.

"Isn't the lameness not your work in the first place? So the one being lame would be-" Before I could finish the sentence the hand, that had been softly pushing my cheek around, pinched me all of a sudden. Ouch. Well, it was light enough to not really hurt, but it was definitely noticeable.

"Don't get too cheeky here." I guess her majesty wasn't used to direct opposition that much. Being called lame was probably a rare occurrence. Not that I would back off that easily, upon the sign of the weakness called mercy. So I pushed my luck some more.

"I wonder who is actually the cheeky one... the one who plays with the cheek or the one whose cheek gets played with?"

It didn't have quite the effect I had hoped for.

"Mhhh... isn't that, like a thing of perspective?" With this Miura started pondering about the word-playing question that only really had one answer. Thinking that long, took out all the wind of the conversation and it felt like a draw rather than my victory. No matter if this was intentional or just a limit on her apprehension, this technique was good enough to be remembered. It had a lot of potential to drive someone like Yukinoshita crazy. With my mood having recovered from the assaults, I looked gently at my classmate who was lost in her thoughts. Someone like Miura tilting her head, thinking hard about random stuff was kind of cute. Not as heartwarming as when Komachi hit a roadblock in her thoughts and was about to give up from frustration and asking her onii-sama for help, but cute enough to bring a smile to my face. Komachi totally didn't do that to offload more work on me.

When Miura returned to her senses her eyes widened in surprise. I quickly removed any expression from my face.

"Now, that looked more like it." She seemed quite satisfied with what she had spotted.

"What did?" Damn, I wasn't fast enough. I tried to feign ignorance, but the only effect that had was my shoulder being turned into a drum again. Was there a bargain sale for physical contact in this store?

"Geez, not that again. Just admit already!"

Miura seemed to have fun at exercising herself and I had to admit that it was contagious. But I didn't smile while we enjoyed the time at the grocery store. Well, maybe a bit.

* * *

However, I did notice that her mood became less and less cheerful afterwards. Even her pace got slower. Especially each time she checked the phone, the drop was obvious. Did she get some sad mails? I was curious, yet I didn't want to pry that far into her privacy. But letting that downward spiral continue wasn't an option I was comfortable with either. I decided to tackle the issue in a roundabout way.

"Phones sure are dangerous."

"Huh? Oh sorry." She put her phone back into her pocket. Mhh maybe that was too loosely connected to be understood right away, but putting the phone away was not only polite it was a good step in the right direction as well.

Wait a moment...did she just apologise? It stopped in my tracks and I stared at her. The world was coming to an end! It probably wasn't that serious, but for her to be so absent-minded was a first to me.

Even her reaction to my stop came delayed.

°What? I already..."

"That's not it, I just wanted to check on you. You hit your head, remember?"

"Ah, you mean... yesterday." The break before 'yesterday' was suspicious. Wasn't her voice shaking when she muttered the word? It was too quiet to tell for sure. "You said the same... _sob..._ then, didn't you?" I had so much trouble just understanding her that I needed to take step closer. Did she have problems referring to the previous day, I could swear I heard a sob.

"I did yeah, did something happen yesterday?"

"Yesterday? Nothing... nothing happened... at all." Her shoulders started to tremble slightly as her voice grew more timid and her speech became fragmented.

"Let me see the injury real quick." There was no rebuttal, she just stood still. I wanted to scrutinise her forehead once more from up close. Maybe I had missed something in the super market. But I couldn't. I couldn't look at anything other than her eyes.

"Hey, are you fine?"

"nothing.. nothing happened!" With that she leapt forward, clutching my coat and pressed her head against my chest. The tears came down and the sobs turned into uncontrollable crying. To call it a déjà vu was an understatement. The very same situation was just a bit more than a week ago, a memory I didn't want to be refreshed.

Something was different though, my heart was in much more pain compared to then. But this wasn't the only change. In order to support her I felt that I could do more as well. Didn't I lament my inability to comfort a girl back then? This was an opportunity to test my own growth, from spending time with others on dates and as friends.

One arm was the result.

One arm I put on her back, but it was only lightly attached to her. Would she even feel it with a thick black jacket on? More memories returned to me. Didn't Isshiki praise my embrace? I was hugging Yuigahama just yesterday... so...so...

My arm moved down to her lower back and pulled her body closer. I was more surprised at the force I used than her. Miura just accepted it, sliding her hands between the gap of my own arms and body. Her head leaned on to my shoulder, turned away from my neck.

With no gap to lean forward anymore, she stood straight in front of me in her full height. Except for the head which was only slightly tilted towards my shoulder. Miura was taller than Yuigahama, not even comparable to Isshiki. So if she had not rested her head on the shoulder, I wouldn't have been able to avoid her watered eyes. If our foreheads would have touched, I would have had little room to breath and stay somewhat collected.

As if to balance the overall pressure I gave her, my free right arm only laid very lightly on her shoulder blades. She wouldn't feel it like this, but that was fine. It was the hand I used to pat Komachi on rare occasions, I had no clue what to do with it on this crying classmate of mine anyway.

Stroking was out of question. I still wasn't completely ready for this after all. This was an intimacy reserved for family and couples right?

Between the heavy crying, she was barely able to tell me what even the problem was.

"Yui, she... hasn't... called me at all! Isn't she my... friend? My best friend? Shouldn't she be... eager to tell me of her happiness? It's as you said... I'm all alone!"

It took quite some time to get this all out. Getting emotionally worked up on top of crying her eyes out, was making it quite hard for me to understand her properly.

My heart hurt a little when she wasn't acknowledging my support to falsify her alone statement on the spot, but I ignored the needle pushed into my heart. To see her breaking down like this, hurt a lot more and overshadowed that comparably small pain. If the problem was a lack of Yuigahama's talk...

"I could tell her to..." Oh no, I slipped! Wasn't this the worst possible solution right now? Even if it was logical acceptable to simply solve the problem, it didn't take her feelings and desire into account. My barely occupied hand started to twirl with Miura's long hair that was spread across her back. She wanted Yui to call her on her own to prove their friendship.

"... no that won't be needed." I tried to take back what I had said, but of course she couldn't ignore it. My slip up practically forced a question to the solution of the core problem. Why didn't Yuigahama call her?

"How can you be so sure?" And here it was, her voice filled with the false hope my mistake gave her.

Yeah, how could I? All evidence hinted at the opposite. If Yuigahama had not talked about the club or me, than why should she do it now? I didn't even comprehend why she did not when I compared it to the random info dump about her other friends. Sure it was embarrassing to talk about the person you ... kind of cared about, but there shouldn't be a problem with her best friend getting some information. There would be no conflict from a declaration of liking someone as there was on the Kyoto field trip. At the very least not with Miura.

The delay of the assurance she sought was getting longer and longer. But I had not found a convincing response to give yet. I could feel her head leaving my shoulder, for a very brief moment I thought about stopping her head from moving with my chin or hand to avoid what followed. Our gazes meet directly. My heart cramped considerably at the sight of the ruined make-up. I wouldn't be able to stand her desperation when I couldn't deliver a solution and the tear-filled eyes made it nearly impossible to concentrate on finding one.

Urgh the pressure. If it weren't for her hair I played with, my head would explode.

Now I knew why she played with her drills so often, so soothing. This should become an official nationwide therapy. Due to the importance of her hair Miura would be renamed to Rapunzel in the history books.

The weight of her head returned to her earlier position on my shoulder.

Argh, I really shouldn't get distracted in such a serious moment.

Despite her head making such a movement, apparently she had not given in to resignation completely yet. She still awaited my answer, at least that was how I interpreted the strength of her grip on my back.

But wait, wasn't my joke the answer I was looking for?

"Say, did you enjoy the Kinkaku-ji temple?"

"Huh? What?" Being thrown into confusion had an imminent noticeable effect on her crying, it came to albeit short, complete hold. It was a bit like with Komachi when she was a little child. When she cried, mom and pops would yell out something like 'look over there!' or 'What is that?' to distract her and when she was wondering what her parents meant the uncontrollable river of tears stopped. It couldn't stop all the sobbing at once though.

However, this side effect wasn't my intent. My answer might really fulfil her hope she was seeking from me.

The realisation hit me once her head was back on my shoulder, looking away again. At that moment the sight to the hair on her back was free once more. Except for the strands that were heavily interwoven between my fingers, they were spread across the black jacket. They looked like a golden ornament again, just like on the black pullover I had chosen for her during the shopping we did together last week.

The image I had of her, when Yuigahama told us that Miura wanted to see the Kinkaku-ji temple, returned to me. Golden ornaments jingling on her, really fitted Miura's gorgeous image way too much.

"You know, Yuigahama mentioned that you were looking forward to visit that temple."

"She did?"

"Yeah, and it's not the only thing she told us. Like you not buying local wrapped candy as souvenirs, or you liking romantic stories. Heck, she talks so much about you, it's like she wants us to fall for you... no it would be more accurate to say she's totally in love with you herself. As her dating partner I should probably get all jelly or something."[16]

"And... you really think that?" Stop looking at at me with those crystal clear eyes still with leftover moist in the corners, my legs gotten like jelly because of it. To confirm this was just a simple matter of nodding once, but as much as I wanted to assure her, I wasn't convinced myself. However, Miura was rather composed again, despite the breathing that made it seem like she had a hiccup and the nasal voice. At least I had the feeling that it wouldn't crush her if I stayed true to myself.

"You expect me to know? I have no idea how the mind of a popular girl like Yuigahama works in the slightest."

"Haeh?" Miura blinked at me in confusion.

".. But if she's anything like me, the way she talks about you is not that much different compared to how I talk about Komachi."

"Komachi...?" Questioning the name like this, I was sure she had forgotten about her, but just when I was about to clarify, my classmate remembered. "Ah! So you're saying we're like sisters? Yui and me?" How did she reach that conclusion? Well, whatever she was comfortable with. I didn't pay it any further thoughts as Miura's Hachiman points were pretty high that moment. I haven't mentioned Komachi by name for a few days and the times they had met each other were scarce and long ago. Compared to Isshiki her first thought wasn't rice when bringing up that name, but not only that, she actually remembered that it was the name of my sister.

Hey Irohasu, you should learn quite a few things from Miura.

As token of my gratitude I decided to give Miura a warning that could disturb the rosy happy ending she imagined.

"If you're not careful though, Yukinoshita might rob that spot from you." I said half-joking.

"Like hell I'd let that happen." She said with the same smile she had when she confronted Yukinoshita during the athletic festival. Yeah, Miura would face this challenge head on. However, she looked quite ridiculous spouting that challenge while having the tear-smeared make-up on her face. Even though I felt like I would be the next challenge she would face head on if I mentioned it, like with a head butt or something, I couldn't remain silent to this. Not because I had an urge to keep her dignity intact. But if I let her walk around unaware of this, she would get super mad if she discovered it at home. I preferred a headbutt over ending up as dead meat.

It wouldn't hurt to carefully select my next words to minimise the damage though.

"I'm not sure if my opinion is worth anything to you, but I think you could do with much less make-up." Wait, didn't this totally sound like a pick-up line? Argh, and the way Miura's eyes grew suspicious of me told me that it was received just like this.

"What do you-"

"It could get you into the museum of modern arts though, if you were aiming for that." I interrupted her quickly, hopefully before she arrived at the end of her train of thought. Looks like I was safe on that front. The realisation of what I meant threw her into a state of panic that was probably enough to make her forget my mistake. Her face had OMG plastered on it.

She removed her arms from my back in order to pull out her cellphone to use it as a mirror.

"Ah crap." Should a lady use these kinds of words? Thinking about it, did Miura talk a bit more like when she was around her clique recently, or was it just my imagination? Was it the effect of the phone call? This seemed like an awful lot as in one of those dating-sims, in which you unlock different stages of affection and the NPCs promptly changed their lines into something new. What would await me at the end of this route?

My classmate turned away from me and wanted to make a few steps further but... Damn!

"Stop!"

"Wha?-aahhh!" A loud yell echoed through the empty sideway. My fingers were stuck in Miura's hair. When she widened the distance to hide her face and fix her make-up without me watching her directly, the length of her hair quickly came to an end and Miura's head to an unexpectedly early halt. Fortunately She did react to my 'stop' and I stretched out my arm somewhat in time. It did lessen the force and shouldn't hurt that much past the initial shock, but it was enough to make the eyes wet again. Not in a crying sense like earlier though.

Still, I was so dead hahaha.

That wouldn't have happened if she were a real Rapunzel haha.

haha...

"Wait a moment, I'll entangle it real quick."

"What were you even doing?" Either she was really the sage I took her for enduring her classmates' obscure greeting, or her voice was too weak to yell after the earlier crying. By no means though I could be sure to come alive out of this yet. I did my best to reduce the punishment by swiftly resolving the problem.

Miura was watching every of my movements, hence the hair that I was stuck in, hang over her shoulder and between our faces.

I couldn't back away much with my head since I had to look closely in order to get my fingers out of there without inflicting further pain. Neither could I pull the hair for the very same reason. Due to all these factors our heads were closer than I was comfortable with. Well, we were even closer just a minute ago, but the pressure from being watched was on another level. Should I begin to apologise or stay silent in redemption? I started to get nervous again, the urge to play with her hair grew stronger. But while I was fiddling with the hair, this time it was far from playing with it.

"So?" She asked without mentioning anything.

"What so?" I have to concentrate right now, could you please be more specific?

"You haven't given your answer yet."

"Oh, that wasn't a rhetorical question?" No easy way out then, huh?

Did she really expect me to come up with a believable reason to which she would say 'Oh, I see, that's totally fine then.'. Was there even anything that could explain my behaviour to play with her hair while she was crying her eyes out? Well if I was about to be executed, I might shout my real intention to everyone like a true upcoming pirate king.[17]

"There wasn't anything else I could do..."

"You were bored?!" Her eyebrows creased in disbelief, telling me 'Is this guy serious?'.

"No, it was quite the opposite... I was completely tense. Nervousness got me so hard, I couldn't... _do_ anything els]e. The only option was to follow your example again."

"You're totally making fun of me, don't you?" _She sounded far from pleased, I wonder why haha_.

"It might seem like it, but that really isn't the case. You know, I fared quite well so far by learning from you. The dating idea for Yuigahama and... other things. Thank you for lending me your hair unasked as well, it was a huge help in calming me down." Phew, I made a mental sigh of relieve as I finally freed my last finger.

"You... you're exaggerating."

"No way, I was completely paralyzed just then. Not even my sister would be that close to me when crying. I had zero experience with that." After I got out of the hair, the only thing left to do was to get out of the conversation alive.

"Still, you can't just pull off something like that."

"Hey, you play with your hair all the time when you're nervous, so don't be that stingy. You know it's actually a criminal act not to share medicine in an emergency."

"How did I end up being the bad one?!" Miura took a step back in surprise as she tried to keep up with the flow of our conversation.

"I wouldn't be thanking you if you were that bad, so don't worry." Yepp, no need worry about the details, while I brought my victory into a safe haven by changing the topic.

"Are you fine now?" I asked as I remembered the reason that has started all of this.

"It's okay... at least for a while."

Nobody would wait for someone else indefinitely. That's why I had a deadline imposed on me for my dating plea.

And everyone's patience was different. Even Miura the sage had enough of waiting for Hayama to get his act together and started to move forward to her greatest desire. It took nearly 2 years for her to come to this point.

The blonde had a lot of patience, how good for Yuigahama. Having Miura as your friend was something everyone should cherish. If one doesn't mind being used as a drum, the crying, the fiery temperament... and some of the good stuff that comes along with it too.

A temporary solution was better than none. There was no reason to doubt her words, thus I considered the case closed for now.

"If you say so,... then that's it for today. Bye-bye~"

"H-hey, wait a minute!" So much for a quick escape. I wasn't off the hook after all. The sidetracking was too short for making Miura forget about the hair incident. I should have been more patient, and more clever about my parting formula too. Where did that 'bye-bye' came from? It was so out of place for me that even Gahama-san would have noticed.

When someone called me out while I was already in motion to leave, my natural response was an annoyed glare with a face filled with impatience. Since people only prevented me from leaving to give me more work in the first place, I didn't feel any guilt.

"Is that how you are supposed to look at the girl you assaulted?" Greeted with the dominant aura of a queen my act crumbled in no time. Turned into an obedient servant in an instant, there was only one thing I could say as humble as possible.

"Sorry." I even meant it truthfully.

"About tomorrow, are you free?" How nice to ask a person when his execution would be convenient for him. Of course the right action was to delay it indefinitely.

"Well there is school tomorrow, so..."

"After." Doesn't school drain enough energy as is? No need for additional activities.

"There would be the make up classes... with Yuigahama." I decided to add some unnecessary information in case she would want me to skip it. Riajuus and delinquents had the same skippy feeling when it came to obligations interfering with their ideas of fun.

"Later, I mean like after the shopping." Well then say that first, I had an unbeatable excuse for that.

"After shopping I get to have some quality time with my sister. Mom ordered her to refine my cooking... so they can feel less guilty when they kick me out, probably."

"It's really no good then huh?"

Now, now, don't look so down. It makes it seem like you were looking forward to spend time with me. It hadn't been long since the crying, thus her appearance still was quite the mess. Red cheeks, widened nose, moist eyes and smeared make-up. Didn't she want to fix that? Ah right, the hair incident I caused interfered with that. And she actually meant it, when asking me if I had time. Unlike all the others floating around me, who just assumed I was free whenever. All these reasons created quite the killer combo and I had become pretty weak to requests thanks to Iroha's constant bugging us too. Still it was quite the surprise when I heard my voice saying the unprecedented words.

"Well, it's not like I can't postpone the cooking lesson... Komachi will of course be heartbroken, but she is very understanding." That was part of her charm that made her a world class little sister. "So what do you need my help for?" Please cheer up, will you?

"Let's go to the cinema tomorrow." Somehow that response didn't correlate with my question, but that wasn't the only reason why I was confused.

"Am I really the one you should be asking?" There should be plenty of other options for her available.

"You know, the movie I want to see... I can't watch that kind of stuff with Hayato." Was Miura too embarrassed? What kind of movie was it? Not like Hayama would care which film it was if he was asked out. He wasn't the type to refuse when everybody went. If she aimed for a romantic one with just the two of them, then he would probably start to make excuses. In that case though she could just go with her female clique, if the movie was so interesting. Anyway, it felt wrong for me to with her.

"Ebina or Yuigahama are no good either?"

"They.. they are not into this kinda movie." That was surprising. While Ebina sure gave off the vibe of clearly stating what she not wanted, Yuigahama seemed like she would tag along regardless of what it was. The Romance genre should align with her interests as well according to how she made a fuss about Tobe's request during the field trip. And Ebina... she was totally into love too. Boys love that is. So yeah.. that might really rule her out.

"I don't really mind going to the cinema, I used to go quite often actually." Before the Service Club clocked up my schedule that was. "Ah, just to make sure.." I applied my recently acquired girls knowledge from Iroha now. "You're the type that wants to see the same movie when going with someone to the cinema right?

"Heah? What a strange question is that? Why would anyone go together to watch different movies? That's just too ridiculous." My classmate started to chuckle. What was ridiculous was a high schoolgirl giggling with streams of ruined make-up from her eyes on her face. At least she was in a cheerful mood again, so I didn't point it out.

"I see.." 'Even if the times are the same?' I decided not to ask this question as Miura's giggle continued. But couldn't she just go alone if every friend of hers was no good? "... So it's a punishment." I concluded.

"Haeeh? You think It's a punishment to spend time with me?" She looked quite shocked and I was too at this reaction.

"How did you come to that conclusion? Didn't you lose a penalty game that forces you to watch a movie with me?"

"Just how did you grow up?! We totally need to fix that self-degrading thinking of yours. So tomorrow at 8pm in front of Screen 10."[18]

When did I agree to this? Somehow I had no recollection of it. But there was something else I remembered.

I reached into the pocket of my coat and prepared the handkerchief hidden from her eyes to hand it over to her.

"Here." I threw it casually in her direction. "Consider it a thank you for the miso peas yesterday, though I don't know how useful it will be to help you with getting the make-up off."

Miura easily caught it and looked at it confused. "Your handkerchief? That's not how you remove-"

"Then just return it at the cinema. Goodbye." I interrupted her and took my leave while I could. Staying here was too problematic... and she didn't want to see me her messed up appearance anyway.

"Hey! Huh? What?" Hearing her confusion clearly amplifying, I left my classmate behind without turning back. I wouldn't know what kind of expression to make anyway.

When I arrived at home Komachi laid on the couch in the living room browsing through a fashion magazine with a bored expression. If she drew no fun from it, then why bother reading it? I could give her some interesting alternative reading material anytime. At least she would collapse without hitting the hard floor that way when she hears my message. Very carefully I said the lines I had prepared to ease Komachi's pain of not having cooking lessons together with me tomorrow.

"Mhhhhm." She replied without even glancing at me. She must be suffering on the inside right? Right? It brought me to tears. Stay strong girl.

Before I entered my room, the pocket of my trousers vibrated. How unusual for my phone to announce its present. Was it my sister who wanted to tell something she couldn't say face to face in her pain?

Nope.

Instead it was a text from a schoolmate who accused me of cheating.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I looked into the mirror again. There was no trace left of the smeared make-up that could have proved today's loss of control. Yet, even though I confirmed it several times already, the urge to check it again and again didn't disappear.

"How often was it that Hikio saw me crying already?" I murmured to myself. Of course I used the proper tools to remove it and not his handkerchief like he offered, but I doubted he was serious with the offer anyway.

Although _it_ was totally unnecessary, _it_ was still a nice gesture. A side of his that that I recognised from the dating stories he told me. At first I was irritated since I couldn't find a reason for _it_ at first. But then I remembered and remembering the reason made me happy. Geez, it was such a minor thing so long ago...

When Yui and the _other girl_ were confronted with similar gestures, they must have felt the same. Yui's possible expression to these actions appeared on my mind on its own. She got it good. If only Hayato was mine already, he would probably do similar things for me. That wonderful time couldn't come soon enough...

There was another time which I impatiently awaited, at least till today. Now I felt like I could endure it for a while longer after Hikio comforted me.

Yui spoke of me often and showed that I was an important person to her. That was the message he had for me.

Even if strange stuff happened, his way of doing things worked. Somehow.

There were so many things I didn't understand about his methods yet. Was everything planned and intended? Like getting stuck in my hair? Did it serve a purpose I didn't get? Or did he act and react naturally? Was he genuine in his ways? I felt he was... but it didn't all add up yet. There was also the summer camp trip. I shuddered from the unpleasant memory regarding that elementary school girl. Even if the intention was good, everything else felt wrong. The whole situation was a mess to begin with, but his plan was the worst. Everyone knew it was wrong. I even spoke up against it, but... Hayato... not only him but Yui went along with it too. I was deeply shocked by that. But he said he wanted to prove Hikio wrong. Thus ultimately- I played along.

When we carried out his plan, the girls showed their nasty side very quickly. It made me so furious that I didn't need the prepared notes anymore. However afterwards I felt horrible. Tears were the only result from this whole facade. Mine included.

Yet, when I saw the little girl again at the Christmas party, she looked happier than ever. What a relief... but how did everything ended up in this result? I didn't understand. I should add that to the things I needed to ask Hikio about. This list was growing longer and longer, didn't it? Starting tomorrow I should try to shorten this list. There should be plenty of opportunities with the shopping and the visit to the cinema.

So good that he agreed to it as he was about the only person I could go there with. And just in time too. The movie will be sorted out soonish. I was really looking forward to it.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

I barely arrived for school in time. What happened to the refreshed feeling after weekends? It was gone, just like my free time at home. These two things were deeply related to each other, just my hunch though. Up till recently I strictly spend my weekend time at home, religiously practicing the two holiday system of the Hikigaya-household every week. So how should I have known, teehee~

Thanks to the math supplementary lessons I had to seek out Isshiki in between the periods, but how should I do it? Picking her up from her classroom again was... yeah people would start talking and stuff. I shouldn't give her that type of trouble. Calling her put via phone... I refused to click on the heart symbol embraced name. Just no.

It was probably the best to drop by the student council room and hope that she would seek refuge there from her classmates. Nothing suspicious about a student going there too. Thus I decided to sacrifice my lunch break and talk with Isshiki about the awkward moment from our date.

I knocked on the door of the student council room.

"Oooohh~" Isshiki's cheerful voice came from inside the office. BINGO.

Her being here saved me quite the trouble and she appeared to have a good mood. JACKPOT even. Argh, I really need to shake off the habit of using Kata-lingo around her. The Christmas collaboration event left behind some deep scars.

"Excuse me for the intrusion." With this I opened the door. I only caught a glimpse on the smile that had matched her happy voice, because it was gone the second she recognised me.

"Oh, ... it's just you senpai." Her new expression and voice were a match too, just a very disappointed one. Was the atmosphere in this room so cold because Isshiki didn't close the refrigerator she was standing next to?

Thanks for the warm welcome prez, it totally boosts the students moral on the campus, hurray... I wanted to say, but instead I automatically apologised.

"I'm sorry for not being Hayama."

"As long as you know it's half-good."

"Err, Only half-good?" I closed the door behind me and went over to her.

"Well, no matter how often you say you're sorry, you won't be turning into Hayama after all." She said with a smug smile.

"True, not like I'd want to anyway. I'm pretty fine being myself." Or not, if you make that kind appalled face. "I guess saying 'sorry' doesn't have enough magic to it. Maybe I should try a different method next time." Why was I trying to become Hayama again? Did Irohasu cast some dark magic spell on me? Damn witch.

"Magic, eh?" Isshiki paused for a bit and put her index finger against her chin, but I didn't have the feeling that she was really thinking hard. Must be a preparation for her dramatic act. In any case, I braced myself for what was to come.

"I know just the right spell to turn you ugly duckling into a swan." Isshiki launched a direct attack against my lips. She was staying true to her style. Was Miura wrong and Isshiki had no trouble at all about the first kiss? And what's with calling the person you were about to kiss ugly beforehand?

Not to mention that she mixed the stories up. It was the frog who turned into a prince upon being kissed. The ugly duckling was a wonderful story about a loner duck growing up, chased out of society. Don't mess with it! Just the ending was kind of off. The swan should have recognised how fulfilling a loner's live was, but no... it made the grave mistake to join others of its kind based on superficial attributes. I would never- wait a minute. Someone being kissed at the very moment didn't have the right to lecture the ugly duckling. But yeah, why were my thoughts trailing off so easily? Isshiki had a look of irritation on her face as well. The first kiss with her had at least 'something' to it, but this one lacked even _that_.

"... why? This isn't how it's supposed to feel like..." Isshiki expressed her irritation finally with words, giving me the relief of knowing that I wasn't alone with this feeling. Miura was right after all. Part of that credit goes to me though for being brave enough to ask that blonde classmate of mine.

Argh, if I had known she was this reliable, I should have asked how to do the talk as well. Or better yet, let her do the talking for me.

...

But that was just a pipe dream. Miura's and Isshiki's relationship was still way too hostile because of Hayama. Not even the caretaking during Destinyland trip helped with it all that much. I had the feeling though that they gained some respect for each other. Their forks however were as pointy as always.

So I had to do this myself. Was that included in the 'be-a-man' card Komachi pulled on me recently? Didn't I send it to the graveyard already? How can I get rid of these stereotypical duties... that was a thought for later though. Now it was time to clear up the confusion. Hers and mine.

"What... what is it supposed to feel like then?"

"Err? You don't know?" She made a gesture as if she wanted to suppress her laughter, but wasn't this too serious to joke around?

"Not really." I got straight to the point. "I have my imagination of course, but that is fuelled purely by works of fiction. Reality might be completely different though. However, there is no way for me to tell how big the difference between these two is... Do you?"

"H-how... how should I know what you're imagining." My honest direct approach made Isshiki nervous as she avoided not only eye contact with me, but also my question. Guess she wouldn't open up this way, thus I returned to our usual dynamic. To make her comfortable or something.

"Maybe you can understand my thinking once you've grown up a little."

"heeeah? But I thought you preferred them being younger! Or is it that your imagination is something suuuuuper perverted?" I didn't know she was into shipbuilding. Wouldn't she flash her nipples next?[19] I liked her attitude of not wanting to grow up, so I wasn't all too bothered when the room's lighting didn't change.

"Don't think I have figured out my preferences yet, but I'm totally fine with girls being younger. My sister is younger, so that's a proven fact. One good thing about the young ones is that they're not as picky. For example, they have no issue with stuff like Saizu." It was cheap and tasty, just perfect for high schoolers by any reason. However, since it was a family restaurant those superficial wanna-be grown up students disregarded it as not cool enough.

"So SIZE is really that important, huh?" Isshiki's face became really gloomy from a sudden depression, as she looked down along herself and putting her hands on her chest.

No, massaging won't make them bigger, contrary to popular belief. Just what was that girl doing inside the sacred student council room?!

"What's with the Kata-lingo? Are you from Kaihin Sougou High? Gross. How is that misunderstanding even possible? I was talking about Saizeriya! But if it's about chest sizes you want to talk about, I can share you some of encouragements my little sister uses on herself."

"Are you putting my breasts on the same level as that of a middle schooler?!"

I ignored the president's angry glare out of sheer survival instinct. If only I could ignore her saying 'breasts' just as well...ugh. Should a middle schooler-look-alike really talk that openly about these topics?

Halt! Wasn't this exactly why I came here? I better get my thoughts into the conversation from now on. Where did we left off... breasts... level... ah!

You can't apply the logic of levels on chests, they won't level up no matter how many opponents you defeat. But you could say yours look rather levelled, although it wasn't as flattened as that of the youngest Yukinoshita.

"'If they are too big, they had little to offer in cuteness'. my sister says." Lucky for me, my thoughts and spoken words were quite different. Instead of a death penalty, I just received an expression of mixed feelings from Isshiki.

"I'm not really sure if cuteness is all that of a positive word when it comes to breasts..."

"Looks like her comforting is as flat as her body." Isshiki wasn't convinced in the slightest by Komachi's last line of mental self-defence. She would _grow_ depressed about it if I fail here. Hopefully the _growth rate_ would be akin to that of her chest. "But she still does have a point though. If I think of my sister the first thing that comes to mind is 'cuteness' after all." The world's cutest even.

"Senpai, you're starting to sound like a criminal you knoooow?" Her voice might have been sweet, but there was a strange hint of being grossed out in it.

"So calling someone cute is now a crime? Good too know before I called you that."

"Eeeh? You were about to call me cute?" She was half beaming, half sceptical. Isshiki changed her mood so quickly I wondered whether she has gotten pregnant. She couldn't get pregnant from these failed kisses with me, could she? Yes the school system was bad, but it wasn't THAT bad, I reassured myself. I probably could trust my academic knowledge in this field.

At least she was in a positive mood again, I better set the talk back on track while I had the chance.

"About the kisses, how do you feel about them?"

"Errr, I ... I... let me try again!" The student president exclaimed loudly.

"S-sure...third time is a charm they say." This would be the first kiss I was actually informed about beforehand, it did do jack about decreasing the nervousness though. In fact I was as anxious as I could get. Once more Isshiki closed the gap, this time she was much slower, allowing me to hold her properly.

We separated and for the first time, this felt like a correctly done kiss. According to how she rubbed her cheek against my chest, she felt comfortable with this none-rushed version. I couldn't verify it from the face directly because of the position we had. This reminded me on how Komachi snuggled with our cat Kamakura though. That got to be a good thing. It was for me at least.

"Does it feel good senpai?"

"This much is fine, I don't think I'm up for those pushy approaches yet."

"You don't call this pushy?!" She said flabbergasted.

"Erm, no? Rubbing your cheek against me feels very calming actually."

"THESE ARE MY BREASTS!" Isshiki stomped on my foot with all her might. Thanks to her light build I was more worried about people overhearing her shout rather than about the pain. Looking down at her extremely sulky face, the thing I should really worry about was damage control. I better avoid joking around that her puffed cheeks looked puffier than an other certain area.

"I knew of course! Isn't 'cheeks' a trendy codeword for chest? I think I overheard some noisy first-years saying that at the front gate. Something like 'Yo yo, did you check this CHEEK out?' 'I totally did, so big and bouncy!', although I probably understood only half of the stuff they said, but I was pretty certain that's what they meant."

"Uhm, I guess they said 'chicks' you dummy."

"How am I the dummy if they don't know simple English? How did they even pass the entrance exam for this school? You must have it hard with those kind of guys in the same grade.." I patted her head gently.

"Hehe, you bet! It is reeeally hard for me, especially with that one senpai of mine." The president giggled and tightened the embrace, which I did in return too.

"I wonder who this could be... well, not like I really care though." Now that I successfully defused Isshiki, I reeeeeally didn't care anymore. I had the feeling that I was better off not knowing anyway.

"Mmmhhhh this feels good..." While had her in embrace my hand moved around, stroking her back.

"So why... " She kissed me once more...

"...why..." and again

"...doesn't this?"

and again.

Her eyes got watery and it stung my heart seeing her trying so hard. True, we hadn't talked about the kiss yet, just the embrace. Or so I thought at least till she brought up her chests. Even though the kiss felt like it was done correctly, we both didn't mention it. It's because there was nothing to say about it, as there was nothing to it. No butterflies or some other 'special feeling' that was used to describe a good kiss in literature.

...

"That might be nature at its work..." I started trying to give an explanation. "You see, there is that subconscious selection going on when kissing someone. There is quite a few data exchanged in the process of a kiss. At least that's what I have read once."

"That would be a pretty un-... lame reason..."

"Can't argue with mother nature, even if it is unfair." I explicitly used the word she wanted to avoid. It really was unfair as there was nothing one can change about it, unless you permanently drugged your senses with alcohol. Especially for such a hardworking individual as Isshiki it must have been hard. Thus I stroke her head and back in order to comfort her.

"I'm.. I'm sure you will find someone more suited than me." Saying that hurt quite a bit, but for her sake I was prepared to receive the mental scar it would cause. It didn't hurt just because I had to say I wasn't the right man, but it also marked the end of us. It wasn't just difficult for her. For the relationship with my first dating partner to end because of this reason, it will make me definitely tear up in anger at home tonight. At least we shared the same pain, that was a small comfort. It made me feel like I wasn't just a replacement for _that guy_.

"You mean Hayato?" Without much time to waste she named the person I wanted to be compared to the least. Let alone admit he was better than me for anyone.

"Urgh." What's with that ridiculous high damage multiplier in her words? Now I would cry as soon as I get out of the room for sure. "I-I guess, he's a possible candidate too. Whatever makes you happy." I was so done with this girl. Bye-bye Isshiki. Au revoire~~ "At least I will have more free time now..." I murmured to myself.

"What are you saying? Just because you're not fit for me doesn't mean we will have to stop dating!"

"Isn't that exactly what it means though?" I was so confused, just what the heck was going on inside this head of hers?

"Didn't you promise not to reject a girl?"

"There should be an exception clause for those who go after other guys from the start.."

"There is none. No crying about spilled milk, when you're the one who made the rules." So merciless, but she wasn't done yet. "I know it's not what you intended, but... the dates with you, they are not half as bad as I thought. You're trying so hard... that feels very nice."

"Just so you know, I won't put any effort into a date with you from now on." I instantly retorted, a nice Isshiki was still dangerous to my hormones, so I tried to make her back off with my words.

"Hehe, I know you will though. Senpai, you're just that kind of person."

"I'm definitely not such a person." I wasn't a _good_ person at all. That description was reserved for someone else, someone I had no chance of winning against. Thus I didn't even try to be one. Life was much more comfortable this way too, when no one expected something from you. Expectation was just the first name of disappointment.

"No, you are, that's why you..." tears started to accumulate in her eyes. "why I..." Her breathing got harder. "just why can't this work?! wuuaaah..." And then she yelled out her frustration before she fell into a full crying fit. There were no useless appealing acts nor a tough front left. Just the real Isshiki who lost control over her emotions. Seeing how she suffered cramped up my own heart too. Her pitiful state alone was heart-wrenching enough, but because it was of me... that was the real killer that pushed a picket into my heart. It didn't stop there though. My heart was smashed into pieces by a hammer for an overkill.

Deep inside I was convinced that I didn't deserve her admiration, her love, that caused all her pain now. When thinking about it, what have I ever done FOR her? Nothing. I only did things TO her. I tricked her into picking up a huge time-waster with the presidency. I was coincidently present when she was at her lowest after Hayama had rejected her, giving her a false perception of comfort. When she came to us help, I blocked her off, only to get help from the club as a whole later again. I made the situation much worse by wasting all that time. When going on the practice date the score she gave me was so low it couldn't be used as reference for Hayama at all.

And now this. Because I went through with my selfishness of the dates, this wonderful girl was now crying.

I pressed her head against my chest so the tears wouldn't ruin her makeup, but get soaked up on my school blazer instead.

We stood like that past the chime for the next period. I used this time to mourn over the loss of a relationship that was denied by subconscious interpretations and decisions of the smallest parts in our body and my own faults that had lead to this point. This was really unfair.

* * *

Oddly enough, this was very helpful regarding my mood. It was similar to a storm refreshing the stifling air of summer.

Luckily it wasn't time for homeroom yet or Hiratsuka-sensei would have punished me for being this late with a flying kick or so, but our maths teacher didn't give a damn about me. So I entered the class as quietly as possible, just giving a weak apology, and moved over to my desk. Not only the teacher didn't move his head a single centimetre to me, the rest of the classmates didn't either. Except for the usual ones. I was really glad for Totsuka's confused reaction, it cheered me up instantly. Kawasaki's head moved too... instantly away from me towards the opposite direction, to where the window was. I took it as her way to announce that everything was right with her. Miura's face was bored from class as usual. When our gazes met, an ounce of interest showed itself, as she slightly tilted her head. But I wasn't ready to start a conversation with our eyes alone. I would have understood nothing at all anyway. One blink means no and two for a yes, or the other way around? I would probably start a cold war with everyone by accident if I tried.

Damn secret youth lingo I was never let into. So I didn't understood anything when my classmates blinked so quickly that it looked like they kept their eyes closed when they saw me.

It wasn't like they were really closed to avoid looking at me! At least that's what my middle school me convinced itself of to not break out in tears.

In order not to embarrass myself with my lack of knowledge about these useless things, my gaze wandered further. Yuigahama came into view, who showed her curiosity way more with her expression than Miura. Rather than a small interest she had her face plastered with question marks. I gave her a stern look that only confused her. Yepp, I really wasn't able to communicate with eyes alone as expected. I used my chin to point at the teacher.

Suddenly Yuigahama straightened herself and behaved like an enthusiastic student should, who was in danger of being held back in the very same subject. Having managed to inspire one of my classmates into following the lesson it should be fine to rest myself in exchange. I didn't want to throw off the balance of the universe after all. On top of that I couldn't rest properly during the last break. Everything pointed at me having the right to lay down, thus I did. I wasn't even near the topic the teacher discussed right now in my personal studies, so learning here was useless. All I could do was to rely on the information from the supplementary lessons to pass the grade, thus I recited that like counting sheep.

Unsuccessfully. There was someone throwing daggers at the back of my head with her gaze. Urgh, she didn't follow the lessons after all despite my efforts. Since when did I become a role model in math lessons? Don't slack off just because I appeared as taking it easy. Repetitions inside your own mind were actually a great method to check your memorisation process. You couldn't cheat yourself if there were no notes lying around.

Since I didn't want to be responsible for her failing the make-up tests though, I straightened my back to give a good example. So bothersome. Was that a first glimpse of being in a relationship with someone? Urgh...

Not that I changed anything but my pose. I continued my memory exercises while ignoring the teacher as best as I could. I knew he was doing the same with me.

* * *

More sheets of test question from the supplementary classes. The amount increased by roughly a third, or like 33 percent. Yeah, my math skill levelled up to that of a 7th grader! My private studies progressed quite well.

I wasn't particularly worried about myself when it came to passing on the grade, but as I learned from teaching Yuigahama during our date, she was already reaching her limit in memory capacity as it was.

Was there anything else I could do so that my methods were usable by her? Thinking about supporting others wasn't really my forte.

At least my inspiring behaviour during math paid off already as I glanced at the same desk partner from last time. Yuigahama was humming as she lined up her utensils carefully... Nah, she did the very same last time as well. Except for that she ignored the new staple of paper the teacher had handed out. Tch, I totally ruined my rest for nothing. I clicked my tongue mentally, I could tell that she had the same worries as me about her memory, or else she wouldn't have ignored the papers.

For now though, all we could do was copying the answers the teacher gave us as he explained the solutions to the class. Without the correct answers, memorisation was pointless after all. Dealing with Floppygahama came later.

I probably had to warn her about staying away from magnets too...

After the class was over my classmate exhaled deeply.

"Haha, this is no good at all..." Inspecting her more closely revealed that she passed the point of depression a while ago and started spouting funny ideas. "Hey, hey, we can't fail if we don't take the test right?"

"Not taking tests makes you fail them by default, unless you have a certificate from the doctor that is. Also what is up with _we_?"

"I guess mom would hide us for a bit until we found a new place to stay." She totally ignored me.

"Wouldn't the school authorities not check up on the house first? And seriously... where did the _we_ come from?"

"We should go to Hawaii, I've always wanted to go there, it's sooo beautiful!" Her mind had already drifted to Hawaii as she stared at a far away place... I better put a stop to these delusions.

"No way! I can't elope without outliving my first wife for the inheritance. A divorce would be fine too if it nets enough money. But there's no way I'm gonna be a penniless runaway!" I declared loudly to get through her mist of nonsense.

"That's your reason for refusing? Also The poor wife, you're horrible! Ah! Eh? Eeeh!? Eloping?!" Yuigahama's face turned bright red as she realised what her spouting actually meant. It was quite interesting in which order she worked herself up. So the poor wife came second huh?

"Calm down." It would be bad if someone overheard that. "I have an idea, but it's a bit risky. You see, you don't have to get a perfect score on the make up tests, it's fine as long as you get half of it right. So we can reduce the amount you need to memorise to about two third." The difference between two third and 50 per cent was a safety net since she wasn't called Gahama-san for nothing.

"That.. doesn't sound like a good plan.." My classmate made complex face. I could see where she was coming from. Yuigahama saw every question as a chance to get points as she collected them randomly. My proposal was quite disrespectful to the subject, way more than my scumbag way of passing the tests already was. Additionally to that, it was her future on the line. Getting held back a year was not simply a pain in the arse for wasting a whole year, but every company would inquire about it endlessly.

Regardless of all this Yuigahama took a deep breath. "But you've got to help me then! O-okay?" What started as a bold demand, ended up so weakly that I got worried about her lung capacity on top of her memory. Those huge knockers were probably at fault, pressing all the air out. Must be hard to deal with something that soft.

I could only imagine about the hardship and the softness... or better not. I had the feeling I would just end up making a weird face.

Most likely she was just surprised about her own strong voice that she grew all timid.

Still, learning was best done alone and I had no idea how I could be of any help with memorising. I only did it by spending time on repetitions, there was no trick to it or anything. Thus I refused her.

"Nah, I don't know..." Yuigahama leant forward, giving me a pleading look. "...err I-I guess I can at least accompany you, or something." Or at least I wanted to refuse. Those puppy eyes were too much to endure. I definitely could see something of Sable in her. Now I was really worried about her advancing to the next grade, if she kept learning from a dog. And the dog wasn't particularly smart either.

This created another problem however, wouldn't it be unfair to Yukinoshita if I spend much more time alone with Yuigahama? Well, looks like we'll need to sacrifice club time for it so that they were both there. There goes even my reading time in school.

I wonder if I could still pull out of the dating ordeal, it's eating up so much time. At least I wouldn't have to worry about including Isshiki anymore... well, not that much.. I guess.

My mind took a moment to recall what had happened during the break. It didn't take long for me to resign to my fate and sigh deeply.

I would totally have to do it right? She was in a pretty terrible state and one could argue that I was responsible for that... I so wanted to quit.

Urgh, that reminded me, if Mrs. Correct and Strict found out about my teaching plan being based of knowingly discarding school material for Yuigahama. I had to quit something for real. My life.

Improving yourself was her strongest belief, so it would naturally include the practice sheets from the supplementary lessons.

I shuddered already at the thought of her killer glare. She could be so scary. Oh no! Wasn't she my next dating partner? Now I was twice as scared!

I couldn't push back Yuigahama's private lesson either. She would need any minute she could get as tomorrow was Komachi's birthday. To force Yuigahama to learn during this special day, Komachi wouldn't forgive me. I had to avoid a cold war Komachi at all costs. The vacations weren't that far off and it was a pain to rest at home when the mood was sour. My classmate might get upset a little too.

We walked down the stairs where Yukinoshita waited for us. Was it a paranormal premonition that lead her here? The fear-meter kept rising through the roof as my back stiffened. Yuigahama was going ahead, hopping around till she was in range to jump-hug the club president. She had no idea she was the lamb in front of her butcher.

"You're here?" I asked her directly. After the first supplementary lessons she didn't went out of her way to welcome us.

Despite my blunder of asking in a slightly high pitched voice, I was kind of tense at the moment, Yukinoshita averted her gaze looking a bit embarrassed and didn't seem to find quite the right words. Upon this human reaction from her, my stiffness disappeared into thin air. Heck my body was growing so soft at this sight it might end up as a puddle. Yukinoshita could be quite cute at times. As if having the same thought Yuigahama rubbed her, cheek on cheek.

"Yeaaah~~ You came to pick me up for tonight's sleepover!"

Again? The doors to the Yuri-end flung wide open.

Didn't Haruno move in her sister's apartment? Yukinoshita shouldn't feel lonely around her. Annoyed, perhaps. Bothered, definitely. I wonder how their relationship was coming along, now that the baseline problem was dealt with. I doubted that I would get an honest answer from either of them. The answers would range from 'buddy-buddy sisters' up to 'so meddlesome', depending of which sibling was asked.

We had a short exchange of saying our farewells at the school gate and once again I reminded them not to forget my sisters birthday tomorrow. I took a moment to see them off, before I headed home to Komachi in the opposite direction.

* * *

When I got the shopping list from my sister she gave me the cold shoulder. I bet she was saving up her affection for me to let it out all at once the next day. Her occasional glances were all the clues I needed to keep me from worrying.

In front of the grocery store I was greeted with a very strict gaze. Oh right, there was _that_ too. The message I got on yesterday's evening. The schoolmate who accused me of cheating.

Not like I cared though, I only did it for payback. I was the cheated one in the first place, so I considered myself innocent. It all was based on a simple misunderstanding too.

So whatever she was accusing me of, I would stay strong like bamboo.

I thought so to myself, but in reality my knees were weak. Something was flashing, not in her eyes but in her hand! A weapon?! Isn't this taking it a bit too far?! Where was the referee? I cry foul play! Which game were we playing again? Apparently the reflecting wrapping of the candy I mistook for a weapon was part of the game.

Through the transparent wrapping, a well known feline smiled at me. The candy sported the face of Destinyland's best mascot Sassy Cat Marie-chan. Although there was a very small minority which claimed Pan-san the panda should be decorated with this title.

But nothing of that mattered now anyway. I decided to avoid any direct confrontation with my current opponent and aimed directly for the automatic doors that lead into the super market. I would find shelter in there, right?

Probably not, at least I remembered nothing in their advertisements that would support my hope of finding a refuge in there.

Robbed of all escape routes I came to a halt in front of her, the only thing left that managed to avoid direct confrontation were my eyes. In the end I walked normally up to her, it would have been rude otherwise.

I really should have thought more about the time I would meet her again and to justify my stunt, but my head had been too clouded by revenge to look so far ahead.

For a high school girl, who was so strict on her nutrition, tossing her candy was wrong in itself. I was about to get punished twice as hard wouldn't I? My despair grew stronger and stronger, only the sky was the limit. No space was!

"What were you thinking with this?" She held the wrapped candy in front of my face. It was useless to feign ignorance and snatching away the evidence was only what she wanted. When cornered even the smallest and weakest pet would fight back, thus I went into a full head-on attack.

"That's for revenge of course." I even growled like a puppy for a bit.

"Revenge?" She creased one of her eyebrows and demanded an explanation with her glare. Just where did she pick up this intimidating queenly atmosphere? But as her majesty wanted I gave her my reasoning.

"You see, when you gave me the Miso Peas, I didn't deserve them."

"You were crying though..."

"My eyes accumulated only a tiny bit of moist! It didn't have anything to do with the beating you gave me." Crying was such an overstatement, I got a bit worked up when refuting it.

"Like I said, I didn't hit you all that hard..."

"Exactly. You didn't do anything wrong back then." It was entirely my fault for sending the mail to Yuigahama too early by accident. "That is why I didn't deserve your apology gift as there was nothing for me to forgive. It made me feel being unfairly indebted to you and I was quite troubled by it. Hence the revenge."

"Geez, you don't have to take it that seriously you know? We're friends, remember?"

"If being a friend really matters in this situation and I'm not entirely sold on this having anything to do with it..." And I made sure my voice conveyed the doubt I had on this perfectly.

"It does matter!" Instant interruptive reply. Her belief in 'friendship tops everything but love' was a sure-fire bet. Before she could even formulate an argument I presented the paradoxical issue of the situation.

"Then you should have had no problems accepting the sweets too right? Yet you trying to give it back to me."

"Huh? I-I wasn't going to return it... but now that I know you wanted to punish me with it for something ridiculous, I feel like doing just that."

True, at least she never said she wanted to return it. Although it was hard to tell whether she really meant it or just acted on impulse. At first I had the impression of it being a baseless denial, but in the end she did sound genuinely miffed. Did I hurt her feelings by going against her idea of friendship? I remained quiet to avoid making it worse while pondering whether I made something wrong.

Miura however, had no intention to wait for me reaching a conclusion, perhaps feeling my uncertainty on how to continue the talk.

"So, why did you choose _her_?" She asked me in a normal tone as if nothing ever happened. Maybe it was just me overthinking everything, or she was just that good with glossing over stuff that ruined the mood.

"Her?" Did she mean Yuigahama? I-I hadn't chosen anyone yet! What's with the girl getting ahead of herself about her best friend and me? Everyone was equal! Except for my sister who was ahead. Was she even in the race though? She didn't go on a date with me her yet, which nearly sent me into depression, but then I reminded myself of tomorrow in the nick of time. Her birthday was totally a date, it didn't matter if there were a bunch of people tagging along.

"The cat." She tapped on the candy with her fingernail.

"Oh, you meant Marie-chan." Haha, nearly got me thinking weird stuff. Seriously though, be more clear in the future. It will save my heart from a lot of stress. Miura tilted her head with the obvious question plastered on her face 'what was he thinking about?'. Thus I continued quickly before she could inquire specifics.

"You said you liked her didn't you?"

"Did I really say that?" My classmate had a doubtful look on her face, I guess she didn't remember.

"Maybe you weren't serious then and just tried to appeal to Hayama during the visit to Destinyland. Sorry if I assumed too much."

"It's no big deal if you know, so stop with the apologising already." Contrary to her words it was at least a big enough of a deal to create a pink flush on her cheeks. Pink was an awesome colour, the best of them all. Although it was entirely dedicated to the name drop of Hayama. Perhaps feeling some heat on her face Miura quickly went on with the topic. "But you really are an idiot." Nah, this wasn't the topic at all, was it?

"Err, how so?" I made a scowl with my face showing my displeasure with her conclusion.

"Still haven't figured that out?" My classmate flashed me a teasing smile. How annoying, didn't she hang out with Tobe and Gahama-san? Was I viewed really on the same level as them? Guess that made her the stupid one. On the other hand, she was always next to Hayama, one of the two people who ranked above me even in my strongest forte. Perhaps there was really something I overlooked, so I tried to think about it. However Miura was a cruel quizmaster by cutting down the graze period to barely three seconds.

"At first I thought you were trying to ridicule me by giving me a child's gift, but you actually knew I liked Sassy Cat Marie-chan. You're 'revenge' does make zero sense that way." In itself it didn't, but I never aimed to hurt her with my revenge. I just wanted to be even and not end up indebted to her.

"I see..." I gave her a weak reaction and had my doubts I brought my distress properly across from receiving something based on a false premise. It was fine though as long as she understood that I meant no real harm, which could have created another, bigger misunderstanding.

"That's got to be like the most hilarious punishment ever." Miura broke out into a light-hearted laughter while She grabbed my wrist and lead me into the grocery store. I wasn't particular bothered by the fact I appeared to be the outwitted one, but couldn't she be a bit more quiet? We got quite a bit attention the very moment we entered the store. This was so uncomfortable. Even the middle-aged staff member looked at us, interrupting her work. Then again, did she ever work properly? My classmate's crisp voice continued to laugh and giggle while dropping some more teasing commentary in-between, as the owner of the voice was completely unaware of my uneasiness.

'Please stop that... in a few minutes' I thought to myself as I tried to make the best out of the situation and recorded her cheerful laugh to my memory.

* * *

Miura was in a good mood during and after the shopping. She lead the conversation and talked about how excited she was in regards to the movie and being happy that I came along. However, she refused to reveal anything about the film yet. I would go to a movie I didn't know the name of nor what it was about. Not even the genre.

So when my sister asked me which movie I was going to see that was responsible for ruining our cooking lesson, I could only say that I had no idea yet. She eyed me suspiciously and often appeared out of nowhere when I was roaming through the house, surprising me to the point I feared of getting a heart attack. Komoichi strikes again! But something felt off and it wasn't the fact that sneak attacks of ninja sisters had to be done at night while the brother slept peacefully.[20]

Instead she kept nagging me with what I was going to wear and stuff like that. I had no clue why that mattered for a visit to the cinema and when I left the wardrobe unattended Komachi's attention for me dropped quickly for some reason.

"Why did I get my hope up...?" She murmured while staring into the distance.

Was she disappointed I didn't change in front of her? So lewd.

If she expected of me to go on a surprise date with the Service Club members, she should have known her brother better. Unscheduled dates were a paradox by definition. As a top student in Japanese I couldn't allow myself to participate in this youthful recklessness. Words had meanings for a reason, I wasn't going to invalidate them. For the sake of my timetable I couldn't make an exception either. According to my book knowledge, couples were prone to turn exceptions into regular events. Especially Yuigahama reeked of danger in that regard and Yukinoshita seemed like a mixed bag. On one hand she stuck to the rules, on the other hand she liked to take control over every inefficiency. There was a good chance she thought of people not spending their free time together as such an inefficiency, when a relationship was the goal in mind. Opening this door, I bet she would work very hard on us being married within three days before losing all her stamina.

Just before leaving I had second thoughts though about my attire. Was it time to ditch the muffler? It had become warmer, the snow was no more, but the wind was still chilly enough to make you shiver occasionally. After imagining the cold I wrapped the muffler around the neck three instead of two times, burying my face with in it, and left the house.

* * *

I arrived at the Cineplex Makuhari 10 minutes earlier than Miura had said. How much time remained till the movie was actually shown, I didn't know yet.

The Screen 10 movie theatre inside Makuhari was pretty big and movies started all the time, so I couldn't even figure out the movie I was going to see through process of elimination. I waited for about 5 minutes in a good spot, from which I could see most of the people entering and leaving the movie theatre, before Miura showed up.

This was a surprise. No, not that she made males of all ages turn their heads around, and a few jealous glances of their accompanying girlfriends and wives along with it. Even among this many people her black high heels were heard clearly clicking on the floor, so even those with their backs to her became aware of her quickly. Since I was used to her carelessly free display of her legs I skipped those with my eyes. The skipping took a bit of time though, weird, just how long were those?! When the legs vanished under her skirt, I finally noticed that she wore an orange, unzipped jacket. This was a stark contrast from the thick, white one she wore earlier at the grocery store today. Perhaps practicability did play a role in her fashion thoughts after all?

I wouldn't have wanted to deal with an inconvenient, not foldable jacket either within the cinema. Most likely my eyes weren't the only ones trying to see what she was wearing under the jacket. The gap of the unzipped jacket wasn't big enough to allow more than the colour to be revealed though. It had a reddish tone, quite flashy for a cinema visit, but it went along fine with the orange. My eyes were already satisfied and I had yet to see the movie. How strange.

This was pretty much a given as she looked always stunning with the flashy state of the art fashion. As far as I could remember back, this had been the case since the first time I spotted her in Sobu High during the first year all the time up to now.

Now that I thought about it, it was a bit weird though.

Sure, she exposed a lot of skin just with her legs alone, and her summer attire was even more daring, but that was mostly only in regards to her back or shoulders. Her chest and panties were always well hidden. After all, I only got a glance of her pink panties just once despite keeping an eye out for them. Of course that was only due to my weakness for my favourite colour and probably scientific reasons. Perhaps that was the reason why so many took a long look at her from the distance, because they couldn't see anything from a quick glance. I should test that theory occasionally. So there really was a scientific motivation for me huh? That was the second surprise for me, but the first one was Miura arriving ahead of the time she told me. And for some reason she seemed very nervous, looking around a lot.

The one who should be all nervous was me though. How should I get into contact with her while there was still a fair amount of attention on her? If a guy, casually dressed like me, walked up to a flamboyant beauty like that, I would receive death letters till the end of my life. Even my actually handsome face wouldn't save me from of crowd screaming injustice, as there was no way to compete with her gorgeous look.

Anyway, it was unnecessary to worry about how to approach as Miura spotted me quickly and came over to my lonely corner hidden by darkness. My classmates observation skill was over the top as ever, damn her. But due to the isolated nature of my habitat she did lose mostly all of the spectators in the process. All is well that ends well I guess, even the most persistent onlooker gave up when he saw her taking off my scarf.

Uh?

"You're here already? I was extra quick so I'd get here first, whatever, I guess this is fine too thanks to you being you." She gave me a little smile at the end I couldn't really appreciate. Not only couldn't I make sense of her words, but her actions were even harder to understand.

Hey...

After she took off my muffler, she rearranged it properly around my neck like it was the most normal thing in the world to do. It was terribly embarrassing. 'I could dress myself just fine you know?' I thought to myself.

Because I wasn't the little kid she must have taken me for, her arm brushed my head when she lifted the scarf to lay it around my neck. Even her tiptoeing didn't avoid it. She thought nothing of it though. Once she was done, she patted the end of the scarf that rested on my chest with a satisfied smile.

"There you go." She said.

Did she wrap it around too tightly? All of a sudden it has gotten very hard for me to breath. Shouldn't my cheeks turn blue instead of red in this case though? I gave up on pursuing this thought as my brain didn't get enough oxygen anyway.

I shouldn't be this weak to an exposition of niceness and touchy-feely girls anymore, but there was something fundamentally different with Miura compared to the girls I was dating.

Yuigahama was still wary of my feelings of uneasiness whenever she tried to get closer or climb a new hurdle, and then reacted to it accordingly, Yukinoshita even 1000 times more so.

Isshiki on the other hand showed no restraint in regards to my feelings. Instead she acted in a way to provoke certain reactions from me on purpose, cunningly planning in advance and trying to manipulate me this way. Haruno even 1000 times more so. I could only hope for them to stop in time and beg mentally for mercy.

What was with the Yukinoshita sisters and their extreme multipliers? Well, my sister had a 1000 factor too, in cuteness. I guess that trait was automatically tied to the sister status. From this I could derive that Yuigahama and Isshiki were single children.

With Miura it was different to either side of them.

Acting the way she wanted was her only drive without any hidden intention or restraint. If she wanted to smile, she did so accordingly to her true mood. She wouldn't timidly smile and blush over it before backing down, nor getting unnecessarily close, being all buddy-buddy while beating me up with her breasts. Seriously, Haruno has way too much free time to get this bored. Miura's eyes would simply pin me down and make me accept this honest smile head on.

I guess having someone not being interested in me in that way was quite refreshing, but it was also weird for me to feel that way. After all, I had longed for this unattainable romantically involvement for so long. That was before I backed down from that field entirely on my own, because I couldn't endure the pain of rejection anymore.

Despite how illogical it was, Miura's kind of attention, or none-attention, did feel good right now.

"Now you can go." It lacked the dominance of an order, especially when said so friendly, but according to the wording it was obvious what she meant. Rearranging the muffler was pointless if I did enter the auditorium, as I would take it off anyway. This meant...

"Go? To home?" The movie watching went smoother than expected. Rather than treating it as an order I probably should label this as a permission. Miura was really a caring girl.

"The ticket-counter! You want to leave me alone here?" My classmate looked more surprised and troubled than I had thought she would be. Was my impression of her being very nervous earlier that right on the mark?

"Ah right, sorry. So which movie is it going to be?" The 98% probability of what she meant prevailed huh? Well, since I already made it all the way out here, I had no problems with staying a bit longer to actually watch the movie.

"The next one on screen 4." Miura said and gave me the money for what seemed to be the amount of one ticket.

She still didn't tell me which movie it was. What was the big deal with that?

"Gotcha." I said and made my way inside towards the ticket counter. On my way I quickly noticed that she had not followed me, aside from her eyes tracing me and the feeling that I was intensively under observation.

The way to the counter wasn't that far so I could amuse myself only shortly at the irony of basically leaving her alone not even a minute later after she told me not to do so.

"Welcome Sir, What can I do for you?" The woman on the other side of the ticket-counter greeted me politely and I issued my order in the same way.

"Two tickets for screen 4 please." This went way smoother than in the past when I got nervous at unavoidable, forced encounters like this one. Actually I felt quite at ease this time around and it probably showed on my face too. At least there was no sign of an appalled reaction towards me on the cashier, nor any other judging expression I had received regularly till recently.

This peaceful feeling didn't last long as a commotion arose at the counter next to us.

"But I really am an adult!" An unknown boy was yelling, according to his looks this was clearly a lie.

"I request you to leave before I have to issue a ban, Sir." The male staff worker behind said counter replied calmly. He seemed used to this to stay this calm in front of a raging youngling like that. The lack of threat in his tone though just edged the youthful boy on to argue further. Apparently he gave no thoughts to the stated consequences as they were said so casually.

"Of course, could I see your-" The cashier I had to deal with tried to say something, but I was too distracted.

"Younglings, just go blow yourself up, dammit..." I accidentally let out while my face distorted in a very distasteful grimace. Even I was scared instantly by the dark aura I oozed off.

"Er, uh,... eek!" She made some weird noises now.

'Could I get a new cashier? Mine seems to be broken' I thought. All of a sudden my own cashier's actions became very odd. I realised that I still had the awful expression on my face.

"Y-your tickets Sir." She hastily handed me out the tickets.

"T-thank you very much." To make up for my blunder I tried to reply as politely as possible, but it was so out of place for this kind of interactions and my voice was so high, that it made the situation even more awkward. The best course of action I could take was to retreat quickly.

'It was so scary' the cashier would say later, weeping uncontrollably, while being comforted by her co-workers, probably. Imagining this hypothetical scene brought me close to tears.

In order not to make a scene and break down, I focused on the tickets I had just received. It had the director's name written on it, so he must have been quite the household name. Indeed, although I couldn't pin it down exactly, his name seemed familiar, so I read it out loud to hear if the sound of his name rang a bell.

"You know him?" At some point Miura had come out of nowhere and posed me a question.

"I think I saw a movie by him last summer." Hearing his name really did trigger a memory. It must have been because Totsuka and some grunting, sweaty bear kept mentioning him afterwards.

"Oh!" She got all excited and guessed the movie right just from me mentioning the time I watched it, was she a fangirl of the director?

"Yes, that was the one." I replied casually.

"How did you like it?"

"It was a great experience." Obviously because I saw it together with an angel.

"Really?! No kidding?"

I gave her an affirmative nod.

"I've seen it last summer as well." She said. A weak memory flashed in front of my inner eye. There was indeed someone I took for Miura upon a quick glance, but most of my attention was focusing on Totsuka so I couldn't remember clearly.[21] It would have been quite the coincidence if she had really watched it at the same time in the same cinema as we did.

"Ah, good job on getting the tickets." Miura said and laid her hand on my shoulder to say 'good job!' physically as well. I could deal the drumming by now as it were just short contacts and went by quickly, but these soft, longer touches still made my heart race uncomfortably.

"Even I can do basic deliveries just fine." I said in an attempt to lessen her need of feeling grateful. It didn't have quite the desired effect though. It was weird for her to mention it in the first place. There wasn't much that could have gone wrong, right?

"You can? That's good to know." She was smirking at me in a way that instantly made my inner alarm go off.

"Err, nooo? Please forget I said anything." I begged to no avail.

"Hehe, no can do." Did I sell myself into slavery just now? I got a bad feeling about this.

Miura switched the topic back to the movie I had seen with Totsuka last summer and asked me all kind of questions about how I found this part and that part. It was an entertaining movie, flashy yet easy to understand, but I had serious troubles concentrating on it as Totsuka was sitting next to me.

Of course I left out the Totuska part, someone who clung to a guy like Hayama couldn't possibly understand the greatness that was Totsukyute. Somehow my answers were still fine enough for her as she seemed to enjoy herself. Her excitement did jump on to me and I started to look forward to the actual film a well.

So much that I remembered barely in time all the important things to look out for from my experiences with Totsuka, like staying away from the armrest.

When the lights turned off, another memory came back to me that forced the question 'Wasn't Miura an actual scaredy-cat?' into my mind. In the memory I was inside a Kyoto underground shrine in which she kept rambling on how dark it was, sounding so scared that my own anxiousness skyrocketed to the max.

"Is this a horror movie as well?" I whispered to her, trying not to bother anyone else in the audience.

"Mhhmm." She confirmed my speculation absentminded, as she was already engulfed into the commercials.

I hoped Miura was just acting scared on the Kyoto field trip to appeal to Hayama, otherwise this movie would proof to be some harsh trial. I wasn't that good with horror to begin with, if Miura's emotions would continue to jump on to me I'd probably end up with more than just a dry throat from all the screaming.

However, there was the general thing about movies, and especially horror movies, that nearly applied all the time.

There would be a shocker in the opening to get the audience riled up, then the tension drops to almost zero by switching to the actual cast of the movie. This would continue for a while, gradually rising the tension with a mix of false alarms and low key action, until it went all out again for the climax.

So as long as I made it through the first five to ten minutes, I should be fine.

The movie started out as expected, by showing glimpses of the films antagonist in action. However the pictures were so dark and fast paced, I couldn't even make out whether it was a ghost, a monster, or, the scariest of them all, a human.

The loud music and sudden sound effects were enough to make my heart race quickly.

Same director and same genre equals same movie, or so I anticipated. Looks like my maths study had still a long way to go. Because I was barely ever so wrong.

Just when I thought I could somehow deal with it, the climax of the opener arrived. It was more gory than I expected because it surpassed the first movie by miles in that department.

When the film gave me some room to breath afterwards, I noticed the soft feeling in my left hand. Now I was filled with more terror than during the opening scene. I quickly let go of Miura's hand and stuttered out an apology somehow. At least my lungs weren't completely paralyzed yet.

But Miura didn't seem to mind and just kept watching after nodding her head slightly to signal that she had heard me.

Looks like I dodged the bullet for now. Not just thanks to Miura's generous mercy, but also with the first shocker scene as well. The breather should give me time to recover from the over the top opener and to get accustomed to the upcoming horror bits.

I tried to position myself further away from my classmate to avoid another accident, but I bumped into my right seat neighbour this time. I gave the fatso a brief apology, but I doubted he had even felt the contact through all this fat layers. Even Zaimokuza would appear as normal healthy boy compared to him. But that only applied to the physics, his psyche would make him abnormal regardless as that isn't so easily changeable. Even if Comiket-chan tried her best. With such a neighbour I was forced to stay in the middle of my seat.

I took a deep breath to clear my mind as I wanted to concentrate on the movie again. That turned out to be a huge mistake.

My head cocked backwards from the stinky smell and my nose complained that it couldn't crawl into my skull. For a brief moment I wished to have been born as a snail.

It was a huge struggle to keep my position and not move closer to the blonde who was fully absorbed by what happened on screen. I sighed only mentally, because I didn't want to ex- and inhale air as much as possible and followed her example.

The phase of introducing the main characters should take place right now, but for whatever reason the music was still playing its creepy tune. On the screen, a boy walked through his house at night. Obviously one of those fake tension things, my brain didn't even bother to emit stress hormones.

I nearly jumped out of my seat when the monster-ghost-human thingy popped out with a bang and devoured half of the body, splashing blood all over the place.

What. the. heck. was. this?

This film was way redder than anything I had seen so far. My eyes were wide open like my mouth as I stared in shock at the screen.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

This was too much, the poor boy! So this is what a R18+ movie was like. My eyes were tightly shut, but therefore my ears and other senses were picking up the reactions of the people and the sounds of the film all the more. Just when it got louder again something packed my arm! I shrieked, but it vanished within the reactions of the others. The feeling on the arm wasn't an imagination though, so I forced my eyes to open and looked for the reason.

Hikio's hand was the culprit! Just a few moments ago he even apologised before removing his hand quickly. How unusual of him... or was he trying to scare me or what? That might be totally like him.

One quick glance told me this wasn't the case. His back was pressing so hard into the seat, I could tell immediately that he wanted to run away. His face filled with fear looked so hilarious, I barely could hold back my laughter! The shock helped with succeeding though. He was completely immersed into the movie, that was the magic of this genre. The more scared one was the greater the effect. It was a total plus to be easily frightened. This made it all so much funnier! I was glad he could enjoy himself like this when I hadn't told him anything up beforehand.

Even if he would think about it differently this very moment with his eyes being fear-struck. I patted the hand which held my arm slightly to calm him down, otherwise he might really just stand up and run away.

What a relief we got in without a hitch to experience all of this.

"Oh, sorry." I could hear vaguely amidst all the noise. A moment or two later after I patted his hand, it was gone.

"No, I wasn't telling you to remove it." Was what I as saying, but another wave of screams erupted amongst the crowd. They were so loud I couldn't even hear my own words properly. There was no chance Hikio would have heard them. When the chance to repeat myself came, he was already back to focusing on the screen. I didn't want to disturb him again. It should be me to concentrate on the film as much as him, as I was the one to suggest watching it. But it was soooo scary! This really was something else to anything I have watched so far.

Just when I wanted to force my eyes to set their sight on the screen again, I noticed something else about Hikio this evening.

He didn't seem as distant as usually. Of course this didn't apply to his mind, that was about halfway to the afterlife. No, it was his body that was closer than normal. I nearly had expected him to move to the opposite edge of his seat because he always was so overly mindful of keeping his distance. I'm glad this wasn't the case today.

Urgh, my eyes got a glimpse at the reason for Hikio' behaviour. It was actually hard not to see it! A fat, messy guy was next to him. I swear one ring of his fat covered Hikio's right armrest fully just by him sitting there. It was a really gross sight.

I had it checked earlier, my neighbour was a plain girl. The kind you could find about anywhere. Her existence would have escaped my mind completely, if it hadn't been for this awful reminder. Considering how little space Hikio had, I decided to let him have his left armrest at least to use entirely for himself and looked finally back with open eyes at the movie.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Just what was up with this movie? It just kept going on and on introducing new characters just to gruesomely kill them off a few minutes later, adding to the mental torture of the main character girl, who sought them out to help them. The scenes to recover from this ordeal were way too short to provide any healthy relaxation to the mind.

I even messed up with Miura again to the point she chased me away. I couldn't even do something about it. Normally one would expect the nose to get used to its surroundings, but it never got accustomed to my neighbour as new smells were picked up constantly from the many people inside the auditorium. Every time the pig next to me moved I was hit anew with his sweaty, self produced perfume.

At one point my company had retreated from the armrest. 'She really was such a caring person!' I thought to myself in order to avoid the truth that she just was simply fed up with me invading her personal space. I would be too, so I didn't blame her. Although it was a bit sad.

To maintain my self-protective delusion of her offering the armrest to me out of good will, I picked up on it. I took a quick glance to see if she truly didn't mind my bold action, but as soon as I did I realised that I didn't need to worry about that.

She was so self-immersed she wouldn't even notice! Not even what was going on on the screen. She actually had covered her eyes with her hands, not looking at the movie at all! How unfair! Forcing me through this ordeal but choosing the easy escape herself. Now that made me so angry I kept staring at her for a minute or two.

It had nothing to do with avoiding eye contact with the screen myself!

But the longer I did, the higher the risk rose that I was found out. Thus I turned my head towards the horror show again.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

Suddenly I received a kick, brushing my left leg.

Ha? Plain girl trying to mess with me? I shot her a warning glare... but it had no effect at all!

Plain girl was actually a young woman, but that wasn't the reason for my stare to not work on her. It couldn't have had an effect as she looked in the opposite direction, to her left neighbour. And she had her hands all over him. Heck, she was halfway on his seat across the armrest.

She paid her feet no mind, probably she didn't care about anything in this room other than about kissing and touching her boyfriend. That guy was equally daring as he groped her ass thoroughly.

Making out in a place like _this_ while a film like _that_ played!? Luckily she didn't wear a skirt yet thanks to the whether, or else that man's hand wouldn't be kept from slipping under it to... there, with no textiles in-between.

Just imagining this made my face beat red, like no way. Then I remembered how I got to notice what they were doing in the first place. A cold shudder went down my spine and I backed away from them immediately. My leg felt dirty from having touched them while they were so close to doing it.

When I retreated from them, my back bummed into someone's shoulder. I quickly turned my head around to see what I had done. Hikio's arm wasn't on the armrest anymore, most likely I had just pushed it down. He wouldn't misunderstand again right? He probably would, after all I had left it for him, just to take it away now. But, how should I even start to explain this? No, no, no! I would die from embarrassment!

My mind was still thrown totally off, I couldn't think straight at all. Ah, I should at least apologise, Hikio would accept that no matter how cruel the action was towards him. That was a sad thought though, but I couldn't think of anything else right now.

"S-sorry... heah?"

It didn't seem like he had even noticed what happened to him, he was just sitting there looking paler than the ghost that had appeared earlier in the movie. I saw his mouth moving slightly, that was the only sign of life being within him. He kept repeating something which I couldn't hear at all. He wouldn't die out of fear... right?

Another wave of noise went through the crowd and Hikio jumped halfway up from his seat. A reaction!

Looks like he was fine, he got me worried for a second there. With this everything was dealt with right? Apology delivered, armrest free to use, being out of plain girl's reach. I calmed down and finally could enjoy the movie like Hikio again, ignoring everything that happened left of me.

I mentally apologised to Hikio once more, but it couldn't be helped. I had to get away from that couple. He would allow me to use the armrest anyway if I asked him. Whether he truly wouldn't mind I doubted though. I had felt more pity for him right now than for the endless series of victims on the screen.  
The movie was just too much. It definitely deserved its rating, but it didn't make it necessarily better. It was way to thrilling to follow it all the time.

Thinking of Hikio's condition, it would be unfair of me to chicken out though, when I made him come along with me and all. I prepared my heart with a deep breath and set my eyes on the screen for the rest of the movie. At least I tried, but when I noticed how Hikio himself looked sideward ever so often, my own determination dwindled somewhat.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Somehow I survived this, unlike the main cast of the film. With everyone dead, I could relax the last bits of the movie as some police members tried to make sense of the bloody trail they had found.

My senses slowly returned to me and pushed the numbness out of my system. I performed a quick maintenance to see if I functioned correctly by moving toes, feet and legs one by one. Everything was up and running fine until the left hand gave me an unexpected report of holding something soft.

I slowly turned my head and stared blankly at the source of the erroneous feedback. Since I rebooted from bottom to top my mind proceeded the information at snails speed.

I was holding Miura's hand, that much I had recognised rather quickly, but since when? The left hand was way warmer than the right one, it was an indicator for it having been like this a while. I couldn't remember anything but retracing my hand a few times before. However, this option was now unavailable to me. This time the hand wasn't just latched on to her, but we were hand in hand with fingers interwoven.

As if my heart wasn't the motor of my body anymore, pulses of warmth came from the left hand instead, as well as all other kinds of stimuli. Actually I was starting to get overwhelmed from all the signals I received from my hand.

It didn't even top there. To make matters worse, my system check continued by going upwards. It felt like my eyes watched each skin cell whose turn it was to currently give me its report to my brain.

No contact, yes/no?

Skin to textile contact, yes/no?

Skin to skin contact, yes/no?

Size of area of contact, temperature, softness... the report was very detailed and when one bit was through with giving the feedback, the next one started its own.

My eyes who followed through the whole process finally stopped at the shoulders. Even those were touching! With Miura's shoulder also touching the back of the seat, while my shoulder was in front of hers.

This meant, I was the one who initiated the touch right? Unless Miura squeezed her arm between mine and the backrest, which I found unlikely to be the case, it must have been me. I looked at her face, hoping to see whether she was aware of the situation or not. If I was lucky, I could still get away unnoticed.

A sweet smell was in the air. That was way different from my last memory though. Looks like it had been my nose's turn to reboot. Why did all the girls smell so nicely? Had it something to do with the genes? Not that I was complaining after the subpar odour from the neighbour to the right.

Oh shoot! I had no time to daze around!

But it was too late, the music signalling the end credits started to play and Miura stopped looking at the screen.

"you feel better now?" She asked me with a smile. No, a mocking grin would be more accurate.

"What do you mean with that?" That was totally a jab at me! I didn't even want to imagine what kind of faces I pulled of this time during the movie. Unpleasant memories of Hayama, Orimoto and her whatever her name was friend surfaced. Not like I was trying to forget it, but wasn't it her fault to not have an easily memorable name like Kawasaki Saki? Stupid Nakamachi Chika, she should be somewhere on my people to kill list so no point in remembering her name right now.

"I didn't think you was this much of a coward." She told me bluntly.

"Says the scaredy-cat herself, tch." I clicked my tongue at her provocation.

"Ha? Tough words, I'm actually surprised your brave enough for a retort." Where did her courage come from? Just a few minutes ago, there was no trace of it.

"Err, I have you know that I was about a hundred times braver than you during the movie." If she thought she had me in a tight spot just because of my lack of composure during the film, I would fight back.

"Someone who didn't have his head turned towards the screen shouldn't be spouting nonsense like this."

Oh, I had been found out, huh? True, I caught myself watching Miura from the side several times. She once told me about knowing it from school already, so I was free to watch her whenever I wanted right? This was basically an 'Out of Jail'-card she had given me, although thinking of it like this had more of a 'getting me into jail' vibe.

Meh, details. What was important was the knowledge I gained from it.

"At least I had my eyes open." Take that ultimate secret technique!

"Ehhhh?!" Looks like I scored a critical hit, Miura backed away from me. Well, she would have if we had been standing, but since we were still in our seats the distance remained about the same. Too close.

It was than that I noted the lights inside the auditorium had been turned back on and gave off a dimmed light. The credits were still rolling and more than half of the audience had left already.

And here we were, still holding each others hands. I had missed the opportunity again to separate them. Miura had not mentioned it yet though and it would be awkward to suddenly do it without a proper trigger. The next natural chance would be when the credits were over with, unless she stood up beforehand.

I focused back on my classmate and found her to have a somewhat sulky expression. My attack power was over 9000.

A weird feeling of sympathy overcame me and instead of the bickering we had going on, I tried to cheer her up now.

"But you know, if you shut down one of your senses, the others get enhanced all the more, so closing your eyes was kind of a daring act..."

"Yes, that! Exactly that! When you suddenly touched me while I had my eyes closed, I was freaking out so hard! Nearly killed me there, wew."

"So-sorry!" My touches were deadly? And I had cursed my classmates for calling me Hikigerma all the time. Did I have to apologise to them now? I barely could hold back my tears from coming out. That was what you'd get for trying to be considerate for once.

And since she had brought up the topic of touching, I tried to remove my hand from hers while I said sorry. But I was unable to do so. Her hand hold mine firmly now. without me applying an overblown amount of strength, I wouldn't be able to free it. I gave her an inquiring look, waiting for her to reveal her intentions. My heart was racing like crazy, more so than at any time during the entire movie.

The cause for this was Miura's triumphant smile, with a look on her face like she had known what I tried before I did. Being looked through was a thrilling feeling when it was paired with clear, big green eyes.

"W-what is it?" I put in great effort to push out this question out of my mouth. If I had remained silent, I might have been devoured by her eyes. Not in a violent way, just like I would have lost my soul or something. Succubus teachers were quite common in manga. Why ever that thought popped up in my mind now.

Her hand was too soft.

"I'm not letting you get away again."

Her hand was too warm.

"It's normal to happen with a movie like this."

Her hand was too gentle.

"It's really no big deal."

Her hand was too much of a big deal.

"So, don't be worried over nothing, really."

Her hand was too... wait, I nearly got caught up in her pace. This was her actually denying my free will right there, when telling me what to do and what not. That's the point where the soul was harvested! Even if she wasn't a teacher, be careful Hachiman.

"A movie like this? Yeah, what was up with that movie? I've never seen something as drastic as this. How did it ever pass with a R15+ rating?" I quickly tried to redirect the topic to something she would get excited about. Power of diversion, do your magic!

"It didn't." She flatly said.

"Huh?"

"It's R18+, sorry for not telling you earlier, but I didn't want you to get all nervous when getting the tickets."

Why would I get nervous from just that? I simply did something illegal and could have gotten a ban for it, making it impossible to see movies at this convenient place ever again. What's there to get nervous about?

"I'm really sorry!" She apologised once more, must have been because I stared at her with an open mouth. Her second hand latched onto to my arm, probably to smooth over things, wasn't this the complete opposite effect of what I wanted to achieve with a switch of topics?

"It's fine, I mean, I got to see something new, that's got to count for something, or so." While I struggled to find some words to make Miura stop with the gentle touching, which I wasn't accustomed to, the movie theatre came to my rescue. The credits had ended and the light switched from dim to full power.

I used the opportunity to stand up. Miura couldn't have any objections to it as it was the normal thing to do, to leave the auditorium once the movie had ended.

As expected her grip loosened immediately and her hand slid slowly out of mine. I had my back turned to her as I was the one being closest to the exit and thus had to move first. Without seeing her hand, the sensitivity of it sliding out of mine must have been amplified or something. It wouldn't have been an issue if it had been over quickly, like everyone just taking their hands back to where they belong.

But this didn't happen here. Her hand was simply moving out of mine because of gravity, not because she took it away actively. Our fingers rub against each other in the process, as slowly one finger after the other vanished from my senses. It created a weird intense feeling. As her middle finger slid over the tip of mine-

Before I knew what I was doing, I had turned around to her and 'caught' her hand with mine. Caught was the right way to describe it, as my action must have been triggered by a reflex that was designed to prevent things from falling, when they left your grasp.

Damn nature putting me in an embarrassing situation in which I blinked at Miura. I surprised by my own actions as I held her hand once again. How could I explain what has happened to her? I didn't understand it really myself. The reasoning I thought up wasn't even convincing to me and I would probably stutter too much trying to bring it out. It was sure to create more of an misunderstanding as opposed to me remaining silent.

So I carefully put her hand on the armrest, hesitating a tiny split of a second whether to pat it like you do to an animal when it should behave and sit down, or not. But I could suppress that urge successfully. I did that in complete silence as the heat in my head increased rapidly.

"Hikio?" Miura looked dumbfounded and probably wanted to know why I had done all that. I would have liked to know that myself. I felt my thoughts going in circles.

"I'll be going ahead and grab drinks for us, my throat is so dry from all the screaming." Escape was the only option, my voice did sound quite horse, hopefully that made my excuse more convincing. Without waiting for a reply or her order on which drink to get for her, I rushed towards the exit.

"Uh huh? Hey, w-wait!" Behind me I could hear Miura's protests, but no chance I would obey her command this time. The idea of getting an ice coffee and splashing it on my head didn't sound very unreasonable at this moment. Anything that would cool off my head would do.

* * *

Fortunately it took my classmate long enough to find me waiting in the line of the theatre specific shop that I didn't need to resort to this extreme measure. I took the nudge on my shoulder for running off so suddenly like a man, asked her for the drink she wanted and paid for it.

This should be enough of an apology to get us even again. Actually she should owe me a favour now. After all I didn't went straight home after paying for our drinks. I sacrificed more free time! Unless she took me buying her a drink for granted as some sort of natural duty for a social underling. I mean, she had Queen-like temperament with _that_ personality, but she wouldn't go that far with it, right?

Miura never mentioned the drink though and thus I remained unclear how she thought about it. What she did let me know was how she felt about the movie, to no end even. I was actually impressed how much she could talk about it, when her eyes were close like half the time.

However, she didn't just leave it at that but asked me about my own opinion several times about various things that happened. Honestly though, I had quite some trouble to string everything together as quite some portion of the movie seemed to consist of a young, blonde high school girl, who was too scared to look at some sort of screen, according to my memory at least. Despite that I still managed to come up with answers she agreed to wholeheartedly with a joyful expression. I focused on the sound effects and music, a topic she didn't need her eyes for. Even when I complained about the overdone gory bits she nodded her head vividly.

We continued to chat for quite a while about the movie, actually this was the most enjoyable thing about this evening. Turns out she was just a fan of the genre and not the director. Thus there was no harm in saying what I didn't like about the movie without having to fear a heavy backlash just because a certain name was attached to it.

So when the time of separation came, we were both still in a mood to continue, but there was school tomorrow and Komachi's birthday as well. This made the parting a bit awkward compared to the end of our daily shopping.

Oh right, I haven't said anything about tomorrow yet.

"You see, there is my sister's birthday tomorrow... so, uhm, I won't come to the supermarket because of this." There was no need to be feel uncomfortable when simply informing her, yet this was harder than expected. Must have been due to the good mood we had up till now.

"Mmhhmm, will Yui be there?"

"Yepp, somehow my sister is really attached to the club members, so she invited them all."

"I see." Huh? She didn't sound as happy as a minute ago, was she sad because she wasn't invited? Could it be... my sister charmed her as well?! If Komachi hadn't invited me, I would feel down too. Luckily, I was her brother as well as a club member, double safety net!

But when did Komachi get her clutches on someone like Miura? During the [People ~Look Closer And One Person's Taking It Easy While Leaning On The Other Cultural Festival~]? Ah no, the name wasn't chosen for whatever reason, even though it did get the most laughs. Probably Haruno didn't count for being only a former student.

If I remember correctly they saw each other only two times, the summer camp and upon the shrine visit at New Years. I had no clue if something went on between them during summer when they shared the same room, but it didn't seem like they stayed in contact afterwards.

I mean, Miura didn't even talk to her on New Years. Well she didn't talk to me either... but again, I wasn't my sister, so there is nothing to conclude from that.

Miura was probably moody too as Hayama declined their invitation to visit the shrine together. It was all about circumstances which made humans so damn complicated. I vaguely remember Ebina saying to Komachi how that it was the first time seeing each other since the summer camp though. The probability of them being friends were basically nil. I doubt they'd accounted even as acquaintances.

And yet, there was this weak reaction from Miura and a disturbing pause after it. She might be that kind of girl that took it for granted to be invited to everything automatically. Perhaps that's why she lost her vigour when she found out this wasn't the case for once.

Which put me in a troublesome spot. I had no right to invite her to someone else's birthday when the celebrated person didn't even knew her all that much. So it became my duty as onii-sama to invite her out, even though she wasn't invited in the first place.

"Err... uhm, you...you see...my sister.." I couldn't find the right words to start with.

"It's okay, you don't need to." She said, giving me an understanding smile. What was okay? I didn't need to refuse her? This sounded weird, but anyway, what's settled is settled and it did save me a lot of trouble.

Miura continued. "I'll hang around with Hayato tomorrow."

'My condolences.' I thought. it didn't really interest me, but to be nice I decided to ask.

"Really? So what are you guys going to do then?"

"Huh, that doesn't really matter at all." Her words didn't match her happy expression in the slightest.

"I-I see." The words may be rude, but I could guess what she meant. It's one of those 'as long _he_ was there' kind of stories. But should she really be satisfied with just that? Attacks should be carefully planned, choosing the battlefield was an essential decision for this.

Oh well, it had nothing to do with me.

It was time to head home anyway. Before anyone could accidentally mention words like 'hands', 'holding' or any other words that could be associated with the embarrassing parts of this evening. Better to keep such things under the rug.

After stating my intention to leave, I accompanied her to the station without a hitch. Then it was time to head home and call it a day.

* * *

The nightmares I would surely have this night, will probably be of an entirely different nature, but I wasn't sure how happy I should be about that. It made me anxious just thinking about the possible nightmares.

Ah damn it! A sudden realisation hit me. Why had I not thought of playing with Miura's hair again in the dark auditorium?! She wouldn't have even noticed with the movie playing and I would have calmed down tremendously. With the fear gone, I would have had a peaceful night sleep by now. Damn it for real, such misfortune. It was the obvious solution to everything! From balancing my personal feelings all the way up to world peace.

At least I wouldn't face these new nightmares entirely alone, but with the feeling of someone's invisible hand holding mine to calm me down. That's what I told myself before falling asleep. The movie was really scary...

* * *

Yumiko PoV

It has gotten so late already, and yet I couldn't sleep at all. Telling my mind to just shut off and get some rest had no noticeable effect. I didn't want to look tired around Hayato at all cost, so please. Let me sleep already!

It must have been the movie's fault. R18+ was really on a totally different level. Whenever I thought back to the images of the film I wanted to pull the blanket over my face. The only things that prevented me from doing so were the flashes of Hikio's scared expressions that came along with these memories.

He was indeed a one-of-a-kind person in everything. If he didn't look that funny I would have pitied him to no end. Hikio had probably even more trouble then me finding some sleep tonight.

And that's when he had an important day tomorrow too! Was it a mistake to watch the movie then? No, it was too exciting not to do and I would have regretted it if I had not watched it.

I just hoped he felt the same way about it, regardless of his sister's birthday.

Yui would be there too. It didn't happen often that she wouldn't come along with us, so I had asked her already why. I'm really glad she told me about it before finding it out from Hikio.

Another of his expressions came to mind. Another helpless one, but it had nothing to with being scared or the movie. It was when he tried to invite me to his sister's birthday party so I wouldn't feel excluded. He tried to, even though I hardly could say I knew his sister. According to Hikio they were really close siblings, making him stuck between his consideration for her and me. It must have been quite the dilemma for him. But going through these troubles, was what made it such a heart-warming gesture.

Lucky for him that our group met up as well tomorrow, this way I could ease his trouble quickly. And lucky for me that I could be with Hayato again!

...

Although I was partly interested in going to his sister's party. Just to see how it was like when they all spend their time together. The surely would have fun, tons of it. However that could work with someone stuck up as Yukinoshita-san around. Well, she wasn't as bad as I first thought either. She had her issues too. But why had those issues have to be related to Hayato this much?

This felt so irritating that displeasure began to show on my face. Best not to go there, not when I actually was trying to sleep.

...

Did he really have problems with falling asleep too? The movie had a similar effect on him as it had on me, but I wanted to make sure.

I grabbed the phone next to my bed and typed him that question quickly.

...

No reply. Well, he might be just slow to react with his phone. I could totally see him being all surprised by a sudden message. When I had his phone in my hands I saw that the first few mails all were between his sister and him, aside from one exchange with his 'mum'. It didn't seem like he texted all that often with others outside of his family.

So yeah, he might go all crazy about what to do. He did have a troubled face when he fiddled with his phone in front of the supermarket just the other day.

He definitely couldn't stay like this forever. Yui was the type of girl who typed a lot, so to improve their relationship I should lend him a hand at getting used to it and text him from time to time.

I didn't want things to become awkward between them, because of such minor stuff. Thinking of awkward, there was this sudden hand grabbing after the movie too. It caught me completely by surprise. Just what was that about? It came, like, out of nowhere and then he just put my hand on the armrest. He seemed to be surprised by it as much as I was, being all frozen up for a moment like time had stopped for him. And then just storming off like that. It was an all around weird event. I would have asked, but I had a hunch that he didn't even know himself why he had done it. So there would have been no reply anyway...

...no reply. My phone remained silent without an incoming message from Hikio.

Maybe, he really did fall asleep easily despite the movie's horrors. This would go totally against anything he did during the film though and was hard to believe. Or was it that he wasn't really sleeping, but like entered a stake of shock instead? I could see that being the case.

Musing over this thought I finally fell asleep at some point.

* * *

[1] He had that thought in V6.5 already, Imagine breaker is the ability of the MC from Toaru Majutsu no Index which destroys illusions and other magic.

[2] Kunoichi is a female ninja. Wordplay with his sister's name

[3] Story from V 5.

[4] One of his insulting nicknames, combination of family name + germs

[5] Catch phrase of Rena from Higurashi whenever she finds something too cute/adorable. (I wanna take it hoooome~~)

[6] Japanese emperor title

[7] One Piece main character

[8] From the Haruhi Light Novel, A method by an alien character to inject a cure by biting someone

[9] quod erat demonstrandum, used for mathematical proofs

[10] Yōkan, thick, jellied dessert made of red bean past, agar and sugar, sold in blocks, mostly eaten in slices

[11] Pocky – chocolate-coated biscuit sticks

[12] UP3 or UPPP is the acronym for Underdeveloped Planet Protection Pact from the Star Ocean series, meaning no that no contact between advanced and underdeveloped societies is allowed

[13] Spirit Bomb or Genki Dama, is an attack from Dragon Ball Z, using spiritual energy from donors for a powerful attack

[14] This expression was also in the Light Novel, I think it refers to the Dokkaebi, Korean Goblins, unless the Japanese have goblins of that type too, which I don't know.

[15] Torako, Tora means Tiger in Japanese, ko means child just like in Yumiko. Characters with the name usually have a wild side to them.

[16] urban speech for jealous.

[17] Noticeable scene early into One Piece, MC was about to be executed as he shouted his ambition

[18] Screen 10, a movie theatre in the Cineplex Makuhari, mentioned in Vol. 5. It also has arcades and stuff like that under the roof. Hachiman and Totsuka went there together to watch a horror movie, Zaimokuza was present coincidentally too.

[19] Franky from One Piece, known for his catch phrase 'suuuper' and his nipple lights ability.

[20] A scene from ore no imouto ga konna ni kawaii wake ga nai in which the sister sat on top of her brother in the middle of the night and slapped him awake

[21] Happened in Vol. 5 as well, He thought he saw someone like Miura in the auditorium, disregarded that thought though. I'll treat his observation as reliable for the story though

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Anyone remember me complaining about a chapter's length? This one takes the biscuit, in both word count and production time.  
Now what has happened? To be honest I was quite lazy in spring after the last chapter, it was really warm and I did more summer stuff than writing. After that phase I did work on it again for a long time. The problem was and is, I just don't have as much time as I used to have. My workplace changed but I don't want to give up the city I live in.  
So I actually had half of my lunch time to write the chapter on the digital screen of my tablet. On the way to work I was too tired, and after work my mind wasn't fit enough anymore for some creative production. I only have three hours which I spend awake at home, if I want to have the minimum of 6 hours of healthy sleep. So there is no real recovery there either as I have to keep it clean and me fed too. I spent my weekends mostly on recovery and family.  
**

 **Just very recently there was some more change. A positive one, my mind and body got accustomed to the new schedule. I can now write reliably on the train ride to work, and even sometimes on the train after work. And unlike for lunch break I can use my laptop for that with a physical keyboard. It also reduced the problem of fragmentation of the text and having to get into it anew each lunch break.**

 **Nevertheless I will apologise for the wait. Some people used the PM function to ask about the progress. I answered each of them, albeit with some delay every now and then. If the waiting time gets to long, you can use the same method. Just know that I'll finish the story (unless I get into an accident or so).**

 **Now about the chapter itself:**

 **With it covering four days it was bound to be long, but at one point in the story I wanted to have a detailed scene, which Hachiman experiences, how he tells Yumiko about it, how she perceives it and lastly how Hikio interprets her reactions.  
Yui's date was the most logical point in time to do it as Yumiko's interest would naturally be on a peak for this.**

 **I probably forgot to mark a few sources from the Light Novel, so if a past reference feels new to you, it's from one of the extra stories. Like Hachiman telling Yui to warn Yumiko about the danger of using real life references in email-addresses.  
Except for the Yumiko's dating past in middle school. That has no hard fact foundation in the LN. Thus I made it so that Hachiman doesn't know whether it really happened or Yumiko was just fooling him.  
**

 **Now that I finished this chapter, I can finally reward myself with reading the 12th Volume! Also note, that Vol 12 and beyond will not have an effect on this story as it is already fully planned.  
**

 **Next chapter will be a three day issue and thanks to it using a day to day format the next day has to be Komachi's birthday (3rd March, Tuesday). Would be odd to pretend it doesn't happen for the sake of a shorter story workload with such a brother. With the day after being Yukinoshita's date and in the end of the supplementary lessons. Thursday will finally be an unknown day to you again.**

 ** **Now for the reviews, hoping they're not too harsh because of the long wait. As always I will address those with issues or questions.****

 **FuegoesFiyerd** I hope the chapter explained Iroha's confusion. While I have not yet experienced this situation myself, or at least I wasn't that aware of it as Iroha here, that is a scientifically researched subject.

 **Wildarms13** I understand your feelings, it would make my writing much easier if I reduced everything to the core of progression too. But unfortunately Yumiko is a character that was only developed in the LN. So I had to spend time explaining her to the anime viewers, or those who missed her characterisation within the LN. Since it is a continuation story of after Vol.11 I can't just drop every girl for the sake of Yumiko. But be rest assured, in every chapter there are already hints towards future plot elements.

 **BitteOrca** The Light Novels don't have that many more of canon middle school stories. I doubt I will invent new ones. The unknown past is a touchy subject for a continuation story. I also feel that I advanced far enough to focus more on present and the future.

 **TheLaughingStalk Lenny-kun** About the Yumiko route in the PSPVita game. Haven't played it, but for your question I researched about it.  
Hachiman finds Yumiko on the rooftop of the school, being frustrated of Hayama. She tells him her woes, but also said he should forgot about what she said. He said 'no' to this request.  
Yumiko felt embarrassed by Hayama announcing her name after the marathon so she hid in the clinic and treated Hachiman's injury, like in repaying the favour.  
At the Valentine's event Haruno said that Yukino gave Hayama some chocolate back then. Yumiko escapes the room, being all down. Iroha finds her and mentions the 'genuine' term.  
Because of this Yumiko confesses to Hayama, but gets no answer.  
At the following Ski-event Yumiko sees Hachiman having trouble and teaches him how to ski. During the night he finds a crying Yumiko. She tells him about the lack of answer and the genuine thing. He cheers her up by saying that she is 'real'. Flustered she says that she doesn't know how to respond to this and also asks him not to mention anything to anyone.  
They clean the sauna next day and she hurt her leg. He tells her to rest and cleans her part as well. They have another talk about the genuine thing. She asks him what he would do, and he replies that she should confess to him directly. Not just giving him chocolate with an implied meaning.  
Before she did that, she had another talk with Hachiman to prepare herself for the confession and told him to wait for her return.  
She got rejected by Hayama. First she cried, then she goes on about drawing a line for Hayama's sake and freedom. Hachiman says she is a really cool person. She gets flustered, Hachiman continues that Hayama must like Yumiko's friendship or he else he would have avoided an answer altogether.  
Next time the boys are all in the bath at the same time, and Totsuka just rambles on about Hachiman's good points to Hayamat. Yumiko was on the other side, in the girl's bath, and heard all that. She mumbles something like 'Hikio's unexpectedly popular'. Hayama heard her and said, that despite Hachiman denying it, the people around him really like him. Totsuka is teasing Hachiman 'oh look, he's blushing'.  
Back in school everything is normal. He stands up, but Yumiko calls him out and asks where he is going. Hachiman responds he wants to buy a drink, so she says to bring him one too. He leaves a snarky remark, but Yui is already deeply surprised. He indeed comes back with a juice, but only for Yumiko. Hayato and Yumiko invite him to the group and make him sit down.  
This continues and expands, but Yui and Yukino don't mind in the Visual Novel.  
Hachiman and Yumiko go to watch the penguins together (which for other routes, is a date) and Yumiko says that they have it easy. Hachiman says that's not the case as they always will have to live together in a flock. Yumiko is curious and then reflects about her own academic future as her choices were only related to Hayama. She then asks Hachiman to hear her out again one day, when she had settled her feelings.  
Epilogue: At the swimming pool after their high school life. She demands of him to apply sun oil on her back. He is all flustered, but then she says that Hayama has mailed back and he returns to Japan. She wants to meet with everyone.  
He gets pessimistic and doesn't want to. He then asks what she would do if Hayama changed his mind and chose her.  
She response with "What are you on about aren't we dating?" And apparently Hachiman didn't know.

Credits for my source material is an Anonymous from reddit. I only summarized his summary.

 **curious george** Added one, a self-edited picture using Anime material. I'm getting a Stylus the next month, not sure yet how proficient I'll be with that. Maybe I'll make one entirely of my own. **  
**

 **DiPG** Thanks for the detailed comment, but please don't skip university classes for my story. Yes it's a long story and I try my best to keep it updated.

 **DiceWW** I like Iroha a lot, making me a bit overprotective of her, haha.

 **Flash Falcon** It's too early for her to feel jealous about Hikio's heart, with hers being dedicated to Hayama. She is jealous about not being part of his group by now though and to experience the fun they have. **  
**

 **Lactobacillus** Sorry, I can't deny/confirm anything about the future.

 **Super Saiai** Again, sorry that I can't say much about the future. But I can say there won't be 20 dates. That would just kill me.

 **Syclone903** It's indeed weird that stories often stop when the author has the intentions of faster releases. Now I can finally understand them! Life is hard.

 ** **If there is something you want to ask about, just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 7 again.****


	8. Can this even be called a match?

I woke up three minutes before midnight.

The only thing that worked like intended was the alarm I had set up before sleeping. Everything else was a complete mess, especially my brain.

Not only did I clearly feel the accumulated lack of sleep from the past few days, there were also wild, blurred pictures floating inside my head which greatly upset me. They were clearly leftovers from some nightmare that had ruined the little bit of rest I had. Just because a certain classmate wanted to explore the realm of the unknown that was hidden behind the age restriction.

My appreciation for Eirin was never that big as tonight. [1]

Normally I was just as upset as any other high schooler when a film I wanted to see became unavailable to me due to them, but today I learned just how much they had worked to protect my sleep all this time.

I opened the message application on my phone and stringed some words together that hopefully sounded like a birthday greeting. It was a mistake by my past me not give me more time by setting the alarm to an earlier time, but the craving for sleep had been too strong. With the limited brain capacity that was available to me I checked the content of the mail for some keywords. 'birthday', 'wish you' 'the best'. The basic words were there at least, thus I trusted the mail enough to be sent right away when the clock turned 0:00 on the display.

After waiting for an extended period of time, like two seconds, I got very worried about Komachi's wellbeing. What if she was attacked by a monster? Still being under the influence of the movie, that did sound like a legit concern to me.

Should I sneak into her room to check up on her, just to be sure she was fine? What if she wore unfitting clothes for the bed sheets? A proper brother would change her outfit without waking her up. It was his sacral duty. She would be even more grateful if I gave her body a full inspection for outer injuries while I'd be at it, right?

Just when my mind was about to enter a questionable territory of sibling considerations, I noticed a very small icon on the phone of a received message.

Weird, when did I get this? There had been no vibration to inform me of its arrival. A message from a ghost?

Enough with the thoughts about scary things already! It was deep into the night, what if it actually creaked somewhere? I wouldn't be able to even close my eyes in that case, much less falling asleep.

Good for me, the mail had an earthly origin, bad for me, was its content.

The cause for me watching a horror movie inappropriate for my tender age asked me whether I had problems to sleep…

What a provocation!

It sent the last bit of my capability to think into a dark abyss.

Without my usual calmness and logical reasoning, I typed a rather hasty and accusing reply, not even checking the content before mailing it.

Instantly afterwards my phone vibrated. Woah! Super frightening! Her original message had been at least two hours ago, did she wait all that time?

I was about to turn off the phone simply because of being freaked out by the immediate response. Luckily, I saw Komachi's name being the sender just in time.

'This is how it's done onii-chan! No delay to happy birthday wishes, got it? ^.~ ' [2]

She must have focused only on teaching me a lesson by typing quickly. Heck, it might have even been a prepared mail. But didn't it lack the most important thing? No words of thanks?

Komachi must have been too tired to have thought of that, thus I gave her a warning.

'Don't come to your own party, being all sleepy and stuff okay? You would make your guests cry if you forget to be grateful.'

It did take her minute for the next reply.

'Thank you ((_ _))zzzZZ'

What a good little sister, she even reread her own messages towards her brother.

Now that I was fully awake, I had a nagging feeling that my own message might have been a bit off too…

I couldn't stand this kind of feeling until I had checked the cause and sometimes it wasn't even done with just one check. It was quite troublesome during exams when the feeling of something being off made you backtrack all the time, but at least I avoided easy mistakes this way. I couldn't correct sent mails, but at least I could prove the troubled feeling wrong by seeing that I had made no mistakes.

My birthday greeting to Komachi was fine, but the nagging still didn't leave me alone.

I opened the mail to Miura and my heart nearly stopped right away.

'And who do you think is at fault for that? If only you had let me play with your hair again!'

I could hear my own gulp within the silence of the night.

…

Well it might have been a justified replay if I took her original mail into account, right?

Unfortunately, it made my response only worse. Now that I was really awake, I noticed a small 'too' at the end of her message, changing the prevocational tone of my first read into one of concern for me.

My, my, how short words can make such a big difference.

One couldn't correct a sent mail.

There was nothing I could do about it.

I let out a sigh and shrugged my shoulders, then I to turned off my phone just in case she was still awake and laid it on the floor next to the bed.

 _Mhh, I wonder what Komachi will wear on her birthday tomorrow…_

With my back turned to a lonely phone-chan, I erased all the mails that didn't have Komachi as receiver successfully from my memory.

Oh my, time to get some good sleep teehee~~!

* * *

That had been the plan, but life was not that easy. Life was never that easy.

As a result from the anticipation for Komachi's birthday, the movie's impressions and the fear of Miura's possible reactions, I wasn't able to get as much rest as I needed.

'Ehhh? what has my hair to do with anything?'

Why again was I greeted with such a mail just when I turned on the phone in the early morning?

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

Feigning ignorance should be the best course of action till I found a solution for this. Maybe I could even make her believe I truly didn't send any mail at all.

Komachi was still asleep. The time after the entry exams was such a bliss I remembered it dearly.

Without my sister though, I had to eat breakfast all by myself.

Bbrrrrbbbbrrrrrrr.

Or not entirely alone. At least it felt like this with my phone vibrating all the time.

'Huh? Your message from earlier.'

'Err, how do you know I send one to Komachi? Creepy.'

'You did? Because of her birthday?'

'Of course, I even woke up for that at midnight.'

'That's the time you mailed me too. So what was up with that?'

'I don't remember any other mail, are you confusing me with someone?'

'Don't gimme that. ||*｀Д´*)ﾉ

'You're using emoticons? That's surprising. They don't do your presence justice though.'

Like I would get scared from this imitation of a human face after seeing through the real thing.

Her next mail had a noticeable delay, she wouldn't be in the shower right now or get dressed, would she? Despite the rather impersonal nature of text messages, they sometimes gave you peeks into others very personal life. Like blue ponytailed haired big sisters walking around naked at home. [3]

'Stop playing with me… Still, thanks. I know you're not complimenting often.'

Haeh? What? Did it come to a misunderstanding somewhere? I was honestly confused.

Nonetheless it was a good break in topic, so I could finally set the track of the mails towards the right direction.

'Anyway, have you ever thought about it being a ghost message ( -_・)?'

This texting continued till I left home, but I had the feeling Miura's mood worsened ever since I brought up the ghost idea.

So it was quite fortunate when I had a solid excuse to stop mailing her. I couldn't write while being on my bike after all. One traffic accident was enough.

It didn't save me from the angry glares that Miura burned into the back of my head inside the classroom though. Was the ghost message idea really that bad enough to warrant such a treatment?

Aside from Miura being so moody, school wasn't all that bad today. It was just way too long! I couldn't wait to see my sister again. I had left her present in front of her door with a small note attached. Although I would miss out on her direct reaction, it was still better than handing out the gift with other people watching us. Th-they might get the wrong idea when Komachi would go all lovely-dovey over her brother out of joy.

* * *

Instead of having club activities, we went directly to the monorail station that would bring us to Chiba Zoological Park and pick up Komachi.

When Yukinoshita and Yuigahama came up with the plan I was a bit sceptical as it reeked of bias coming from two animal lovers, but my sister got very excited over the visit to the zoo so I deemed it good enough. Seeing Komachi squealing over animals would be a treat for my eyes too, thus there was nothing I could complain about.

That was if everything would have stayed at that, but when we arrived at the station Komachi wasn't the only one waiting for us.

"Oh Onii-san, we're over here!"

I instantly regretted not having brought a bug spray with me.

"Komachi, didn't you want to have a party with your middle school FRIENDS on the weekend?" Instead of talking to the blurry dot which my eyes created in an act of censorship next to my sister, I only addressed her. Kawasaki's little brother wasn't even part of our group. He belonged in the forever-friends group, in the zone.

Totsuka was part of our usual group though, so why wasn't he here?

"You see Onii-chan that party will be full of girls, so Taishi-kun would feel a bit excluded."

"No boys? Then I don't have to trail behind you and watch every of your steps?"

"That sounds disgustingly wrong, even for a siscon like you." Yukinoshita said while flicking her hair behind her back. I was used to the appalling look she gave me though. Resistant I would say, if not even straight immune.

"… but you know Hikki, in an all-girls party, boys are mostly the go-to topic. And everyone gets pumped up! With everyone fired up like this, picking up random boys becomes even more frequent. Same goes for groups of boys too." Yuigahama chimed in with a wired smile.

"Shush Yui-san! He doesn't need to know about that."

Great, now I was even more anxious than before.

"Don't worry Komachi-san, he will never be able to make use of this knowledge as he is unable to form any groups." Yukinoshita splendidly missed the mark on that one. It just showed how she herself was unused to group activities.

"Yukinon, that's not exactly the issue here." How rare for Gahama-san to point out a mistake from Yukipedia.

"It is not?" The club president blushed a little from being wrong.

"Before I learn more frightening stuff about girls, didn't you invite Totsuka too?"

"Nope." She said flatly, but I had the feeling my sister had fun teasing me with it. This was such an obvious lead up.

"Heeeh? You don't like Sai-chan?" My classmate said visibly surprised. Yeah, not liking Totsuka was just that of out-of-the-world thing.

"Oh she didn't invite Totsuka-kun?" Oh my, how daring to show such a smile while stealing glances at Komachi in front of her big brother. It was totally fine to like squash Insect-kun, right?

"Let's hear your reason for not inviting him." I was a saint to be able to ignore this provocative behaviour and rather decided to see where her lead up went to.

Komachi looked happy to finally hear the reaction she waited for, Komachi points were about to rise I guess.

Hopefully she didn't forget the raise in Hachiman points for enabling her show.

"I'm glad you asked Onii-chan! Totsuka is a reeeeaaally nice guy. But! But! This is MY birthday. I want to be my brother's number one for the whole day!"

Even though I knew that something was coming, I was still unprepared for this lovely declaration.

Th-that was beautiful, even if she wasn't serious.

But it made no sense.

"Haha..ha… there is no chance for you to settle for number three?" _Me being stuck on rank three in the Japanese Proficiency exam was already bad enough, can't have my sister go through the same ordeals. Deal with it._ I thought in response to Yuigahama's weak laugh.

"I don't think I would want to be this close to my sister…" Even Yukinoshita seemed troubled in more than one way, massaging her temples trying to prevent a headache.

"Woah, you're so close..." For some reason Bug-kun was the only one who was admiring us, but he had a brocon sister to live with. His opinion didn't count.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, foolish little sister. You don't need to be afraid of losing your brother to someone else. If the Totsuka-corner is the forbidden fruit of love then the Komachi-shrine is the embodiment of the ultimate, one and only TRUE LOVE never to be toppled!" I exclaimed.

Silence followed, out of amazement I hoped.

"That's the spirit Onii-chan! Now let's go to the zoooo!" As expected of a world class sister, Komachi was the first one to be able to react. It was probably easier to get out of a daze through the power of love.

The other three, who bathed in the light of our wonderful siblingship, received the final blow when Komachi linked her arm with mine and lead me towards the monorail. Jaws were dropping one after the other.

"They progressed to a stage where even being in the public doesn't mean anything to them." I was on the edge of calling a doctor for Yukinoshita's migraine.

"She went as nuts as him… haha…" Yuigahama acknowledged that we were a match thinking in synch, haha.  
Now I really had to marry my sister.

"I'm so envious..." Of our bond I hoped, otherwise I would have to push him in front of an incoming train.

The moment of bliss didn't last all that long. When we were still waiting for the train to arrive, she had abandoned me and was only talking with the other girls already. With the boys being excluded from the girl society I had to spend the whole time waiting and riding the train with Kawasaki's brother. To my dismay he wasn't the quiet type on the train, unlike his sister.

'Are the teachers very strict?'

'Which club should I join…?'

'I hope I made it into Sobu High…'

It was hell! But it was also Komachi's birthday, so endured it like a sage. For her sake.

And for the sake of keeping my criminal record clean.

But as long as he wasn't inquiring about my sister, I gave him some short dead-end answers to a few of his conversation kick-starter questions.

I was no monster after all. He would die by the hands of pops anyway if he came too close with Komachi. And while he was in jail… oh the possibilities!

* * *

'So cute!' was the most used phrase at the zoo and our group, mainly Yuigahama and Komachi, worked hard as well to keep it that way. This was not a bad thing by any means. Who didn't like to see girls smiling so brightly as if they tried to compete with the sun?

Pointing at the animals, Yukipedia stating the major information about said animal, squealing over them, trying to touch the fluffy furs…

'So cute' indeed.

… but wasn't the last bit against the rules of the zoo?

I was too busy to bathe in their light as I enjoyed the sight quietly. The beetle who stuck to me must have had the same opinion as I haven't heard of him in a while.

It made me wonder whether even insects have some form of intelligence to understand this beautiful scenery.

The procedure was repeated over and over again as we followed the girls around till they got hungry enough to take a break.

The Chiba Zoological Park was quite a good choice to spend a day with a girl I must confess.

It was cheap, not too far away and the girls kept themselves busy till they were tired. All a guy had to do was to carry the luggage. Too bad I didn't know this earlier or I could have used it for a date myself.

Yuigahama used the break as opportunity to give their present to my sister.

"A tea-cup?" Komachi was visibly confused as she tried to comprehend the gift. No wonder there as it was only a suitable present for old people or newlyweds. My sister wasn't the brightest bulb around, but she was an expert for social common sense like this. Compared to me that was.

Since she could rule out being old, her gaze wandered to me with a wry smile.

We did joke around a lot, but to be teased for that on her birthday with a present... yeah, that would be too much.

To avoid an escalation of the situation I shook my head to clear up her misunderstanding.

Komachi and presents was a risky combination as she clearly stated what she disliked.

Her eyes wandered further to her former school mate...

"Hey Yuigahama, why don't you explain the meaning to her, like, instantly." I demanded of her rather intensively.

"Ah right, huh? Y-you don't have to look so serious, do you?! Scared me there for a bit."

"Hurry." Before my sister got any weird thoughts that weren't in the realm of a friendzone.

"yes, yes. Geez." My classmate gave me an annoyed look before her expression made a total turnaround when she spoke with Komachi. "You see, everyone has one already!"

…

Everyone waited for her to continue but apparently that was all she had to say.

"We know that you didn't receive your confirmation from school yet so it might be a bit too early for this, but thanks to the unwavering confidence of a certain someone we saw it fit to not wait any longer and would like to invite you to the Service Club."

"Woaah! Really?! Thank you so much Yukino-san! Yui-san!" She shouted out loud and flew towards the two to give them a hug. I was so jealous. That could have been me if I had not shared my idea with them.

Well, as long as Komachi was happy I would be too.

So when my club mates looked over to me with a troubled face I picked up the conversation before they could comment on including me.

"Don't feel pressured to join though. You don't have to come that often too. Cup-chan will always wait for you, even if you only show up casually to visit your brother."

"Errr, like I'd go there for you." Cold rejection.

"So uhm, does Hikki want her to join or not?" Unable to make sense out of our sibling talk, Yuigahama tried to ask an equally confused Yukinoshita. My sister explained my plan to them before the club president could start to think of an answer.

"Don't worry about this trashy onii-chan of mine. He just wants to use my cup when I'm not there."

"I've been seen through so quickly?!"

If Komachi was always this quick to understand, the entry exam would have been like a walk in the park for her.

"Hahaha… I'm not sure if I want Komachi-chan to join anymore… if these two to spend even more time together, then… but I definitely want her to come too… sooo, do we have to get rid off Hikki? Not sure how I feel about tis either." F-Cup-chan's thoughts were jiggling all over the place like her eponyms.

"If we don't tie him up in the clubroom I can see him ending up in jail one day." Woah, why so strict A-cup-chan? We're just talking about using a container for tea here!

Cups, cups everywhere. Well, they did make for some fine assets. Also they were basically the only the equipment club room had, though I wasn't sure whether I could count Yukinoshita's flat wall as equipment, for it was rather plain.

Out of the five of us only the little brother didn't have a complicated expression. I guess if your older sister wandered around naked at home, sharing a tea-cup would be the least of one's worries. Suddenly I got decently interested in my fellow male's private life. I wonder if I could get him to visually document his daily life in the time frames around Kawasaki's bathing times. He probably had very interesting decorations or whatever in the hallways of his house.

I did my best to ignore them thinking up stuff on what to do with my body to keep me from assaulting my sister. If I listened to them any longer, they probably would have managed to make me turn myself in to the police tomorrow. Was everyone thinking of me as such a bad person? How shocking!

"Hikki, give her your present next!" Yuigahama called out to me. That's the mood reader for you. She stopped the down spiral of badmouthing me.

"Of course she got mine already. We're living in the same house after all."

"Not fair! What was it?" Yuigahama was eager to know.

Ah right, I never showed it to them as I picked it myself.

"That… I don't want to say." I couldn't hold eye contact with her any longer.

"Huhhh? You can't? But I reaaaallly wanna know!"

"Now that makes me curious too." How rare for Yukinoshita to voice her interest.

"Please Onii-san, tell us!" Even the one who should not be named was pressing me.

"Who are you calling onii-san? When is the next lion feeding? I'm not saying anything." Stop bugging me. They kept on doing it, but I didn't reveal anything.

"Are you alright Komachi-san?" Damn that smart club president she switched the target.

"Yeah, you okay? Hikki didn't do anything weird to you or did he?"

"I…" Komachi looked over to me, but only for a brief moment. Both of us looked in different directions. "I can't say."

No wonder with that kind of present.

What I had bought on Sunday was just an ordinary picture frame. Well it came with some cute hearts on it.  
Originally I wanted to put in some animal pictures, but while I was thinking about it I became greedy for ones of Komachi. Then I asked mom to take some pictures of us during the cooking lesson she would oversee on the weekends.

One of them was had my sister enjoying herself to the max, laughing and smiling from ear to ear, as she put her finger in my mouth for a surprise taste-testing. If I looked close enough I could see even see a tiny blush on my maiden's face. Mom thought it to be the best one and let it print out after work on Monday.

The picture in itself was quite fine, but after I had put it in the cutesy frame, it turned all lovey-dovey. Since my mother had approved the picture, I decided to go with it in a weak moment of mine. Although I never showed mom the frame before.

But yeah, at least it prevented Komachi from secretly spreading the photo to my dating partners in some sort of scheme.

After the talk died with us not saying anything, we ended the break. The other male tag-along hurried with giving her his present, which must have felt pretty awkward for him after all the trouble mine had caused. Nobody really paid attention to it.

The gift was harmless enough for the lions to go to sleep hungry today. That was all I cared about.

Thus I forgot what his present was a moment later. It wasn't something unforgettable like a name after all, as I was pretty confident in my memory in this regard.

As soon as we reached the next animal, the mood was back to being joy, laughter and more squealing. These red pandas were just too adorable for anything less.

Unlike Yuigahama and Komachi, I was able to stay relatively composed. At least I didn't press my nose against the glass as they did. Not like you could touch them anyway. Damn zoo rules. Now that it mattered there was a protective glass.

It took them a while to part from Sumire and Ron. Heck, when did we name them?

My sadness was blown away just a few minutes later though.

Eagles! Hawks! Falcons!

"H-hey, how about…" I wanted to suggest taking another break here, but the girls were walking off already. Not only did they ignore me, but also these wonderful birds. At least pay them the respect they deserved!

"They're so cool!" I wasn't the only one who stayed back to give them the proper attention. Unexpectedly Kawasaki Taishi had a good taste in animals. "They're so majestic… look how sharp his eyes are, truly the eyes of a killer."

W-well, it couldn't hurt if I teach him some trivia about these birds, since he seemed a bit interested. Thus I gave him a not so quick rundown on the history of falconry, continuing even after we had to leave the animals I talked about behind. I didn't want to lose sight of Komachi either, what if a tiger broke out of his cage? It was my responsibility to shield her with my life! These animals had a hidden effect of awakening chuuni tendencies I guess.

"I didn't know that! It should be really them to be known as the kings of the animals." Taishi said after I finished everything I had to say.

"It's good that you understand."

Since I couldn't sense that he was faking his amazement there was something I wanted to ask him. "By the way, do you think you passed the entry exam for Sobu High?"

He was struggling if I remembered his sister's words correctly. My innocent question made his eyes sparkle. I hope he didn't get a wrong idea from this.

"The exam was brutal, despite my sister making me study so much like I never did before. She thinks I made it though." That was just a worthless judgement of a brocon, kid. "My sister is always way too serious about studying…"

"Oi, your sister is pretty great for being so. Don't talk like it's a bad thing. There are not many who can focus on studying in their teen years. Once the phase of superficial youth is over, people like her will be staying at the top for the rest of their lives because they had put so much effort into studying. Later down the line she'll be a good wife with a top job. If it's her I have no doubt about it. You would be wise to follow her example."

Since this was quite important I wanted to hammer this knowledge into his head, but I feared not to survive the retaliation from his brocon sister if I used a real hammer, or even a slight nudge from my fist. Thus, I had to make up the force with my tone. And the more he studied, the less he had time to interact with my sister.

He appeared to be a bit stunned at my sudden seriousness.

"I guess you're right." Taishi seemed to really think about it as he went all quiet afterwards. I saw the girls waiting for us at a pointed sign that read 'exit'.

"Fine if you acknowledge it. Looks like we're about to reach the exit, now I only feel slightly bad about not finding an empty cage to lock you up in there."

"You looked for one all the time Onii-san?!"

Urgh, I forgot to mention Kawasaki's best point. Loners like her didn't try to get chummy with other people and did stupid things like calling them onii-san and stuff when they weren't related.

Too bad we entered Komachi's hearing range, I needed to behave again.

For Komachi's sake. And for the record of keeping my criminal record clean. A never struggle.

* * *

Since the Kawasakis were living nearby, Taishi, Komachi and me got off at the same station.

That was after my sister had thanked Yuigahama and Yukinoshita to no end for organising this birthday party and the present she received when we parted with them.

She was such a good child, unlike that brat who typed on his phone that kept on making notification sounds. Did he text some overly jealous girlfriend or what? If only that were true, I could be at ease when he was around Komachi. At least he was quiet when he was busy with typing.

All I cared about was leaving him alone in the dust as soon as we exited the station.

Stations and their surroundings were a den of evil. Each time Komachi had to use the train I got super worried and would try to convince her endlessly to stay at home with her dear brother. There were boys picking up girls, many other types of scum and extremely weird people. One example of the last type was a girl whose eyes darted around restlessly, checking people faces left and right. A murderess who looked for her next victim?

"Yo." I greeted her despite my fear. If I introduced Taishi to her he might be gone forever. It was definitely worth a try. She might even be this overly jealous girlfriend he had been texting. As long as he was gone I didn't care who exactly she was. Although she seemed oddly familiar. "Aren't you a bit overprotective of him?"

"If I could, I wouldn't take my eyes of you when you're around him, but I had to pick up Kei-chan." The dangerous specimen of a brocon replied with an intense glare.

"Didn't know you liked me this much."

"Th-that's not what I meant! Don't twist my words!" Her ponytail shook as vehemently as her head. She shouldn't do that though, it makes the blood rise into the face and then it would very similar to an embarrassed face. Even knowing it wasn't a real blush, it still made it quite hard to keep talking. Her conversations skills were pretty low to begin with, but even I was stuck on how to continue.

"Uhm..."

"Err…"

Weird how a joke that was supposed to lighten the mood, made everything so tense.

"Oh it's Saki-san!" Komachi joined the conversation.

"Don't worry, my brother took good care of Taishi-kun today."

"Is that so?" She eyed my sister with a hint of doubt. I would be suspicious of Komachi's words as well. I didn't take care of him, after all he was still alive. That's not what taking care of someone meant, in mafia talk at least. And we were family, so no confusing the meaning here. "Ah, my apologies. I congratulate you on your birthday, I hope it was as good one."

That sounded awkward, just say something as simple as 'happy birthday'. Her conversation skill needed some serious power levelling.

"Thank you! I had lots of fun with Taishi." Nonetheless Komachi didn't pick on Kawasaki inferiority but… when did she have fun with that brat?

All I remember was me babysitting him while she entertained herself with the grown ups. With Yukinoshita being the mentally grown up and Yuigahama with a grown up bust.

"Did he cause you any trouble?" Sometimes I wasn't sure whether Kawasaki was still a brocon or had already mutated into a soncon.

"No, no, not at all. My brother was behaving really nicely." She wasn't talking about me though, was that some kind of reflex by my sister? How was that even conditioned? I never caused any trouble - ever.

"Then that's fine." Huh? She accepted that answer? Have I underestimated her conversation skill all this time? I surely didn't understand how they reached an agreement here while talking about different persons.

Her eyes darted back and forth to me, if she thought about thanking me for not killing Taishi then I guess I deserved that thanks. So go ahead and praise me mommy!

"He taught me a lot about the birds of prey too."

In response to Taishi's gain in knowledge, Kawasaki had even the smile of a proud mother.

Hey, hey mommy! I was the one who taught him, look at me too! Praise me!

"You didn't say anything weird to him again, right?" And the gentle expression of her was gone when she talked to me.

Mommy, why are you so cold?

Did she treat me as the unwanted, troublesome, oldest child of the family?

Meh enough of this. My own parents gave me that treatment so often, I didn't need Kawamother to do the same.

"Of course not, I kept it to the bare minimum after all." The minimum was dealing with him the whole time in order to protect Komachi's chastity.

"This doesn't really sound like you got along..." She looked a bit down, but one wasn't allowed to lie to your mother. I wouldn't sugar-coat anything.

"Yepp, I wouldn't say we did. I only taught him some important stuff he should know. Well you know, like taking studying seriously and so." I tried to sound as not-caring as much as I could.

Kawasaki's eyes widened in surprise, before she quickly lowered her head. You know it's impolite not to maintain eye contact, right? Maybe I needed to teach her a few things too.

"I guess, I should be thankful for that..." It seemed like she really didn't know what to do as she said this meekly while playing around with her fingers nervously. This could go on endlessly, so before we get uncomfortable it was better to end this quickly.

"Don't be, just take that thing home already." I said to provide her thought process a known direction.

Upon attacking her brother, she shot me a cold glare with no sign of her earlier shyness. Additionally to that I received a blow of my sister's elbow into the sides.

"Before you two catch a cold or something." I added. Kawasaki's ponytail cocked hard, but only once. Looked like she was getting used to this, probably due to Ebina's teasing.

"You really are an idiot. Are you ever serious?" A certain nervousness remained with her though.

"I'm always serious. Dead serious even. Nobody is seriously listening to me though. Seriously, what's up with this world in which a seri-" Her intense staring made me shut up. Why so serious Kawamother?

The force behind her glare faded quickly though when I looked back at her with my best puppy-eyed expression. Probably appalled by it she became all flustered and averted her face.

"Ahh, Taishi we need to go." There we go with the obvious excuse to leave the strange guy behind. Did this even count as an excuse since she gave no reason whatsoever?

"We need to get going too. Her father will get angry if he can't dot on his daughter." In order to make her not to feel ashamed of her lacklustre excuse I gave her a proper one.

"Isn't he your father too?"

"He is, but he will get angry if you mention that to him. I guess…" I was convinced that he only bragged about Komachi at work and hid the fact he had another child.

"Don't worry Saki-san! Our father isn't that bad you see." And thus the daughter repays the favour for her upbringing and defended her father's image. "He did get a wife somehow, so he can't be all that bad. You should visit us and meet him some day to see for yourself!" If that's the best thing you could say about your father, then something was so shady about it all that she would never take up such an invitation. All it will do is make her turn on her heels and run away.

"Wife? Mhhh…" I heard Taishi whisper. Was he thinking about his lonely future now? Even if he couldn't have my sister, there were plenty of other girls out there. Someone might have pity on him one day without it being a family member. "Ah! Hachiman-san said you'd be a good wife, nee-chan!"

His sister wasn't the only one who was completely stunned, my sister and I were the same.

I didn't even know what to be mad about first, his bubbling of unnecessary things, him using my first name without permission or his very existence. I could feel the blood rushing into my face.

Although I could make an exception for the name. If had called me onii-san like usual, it would have become an even more uncomfortable sentence. We were still in the middle of a crowd in front of the station after all. Weird looks would be the minimum, even in Chiba.

My classmate got all red from anger as well. Why was she looking at me though with the coloured face? She should be mad at her brother. Maybe I was getting it all wrong and she just developed a sudden fever. It was still fairly cold after all. I should make sure by placing a hand on her forehead before jumping to conclusions.

I made one step closer to Kawasaki, but she took one step back in reply. Silly girl, I couldn't perform any medical first aid like this.

Before I could explain my intentions to her though she reached out with her own hand and grabbed Taishi's.

"S-Sorry, we really need to hurry now!" She said louder than she needed to and then she turned on her heals and dragged her protesting brother along with her.

"Ouch! Nee-chan not so tight, it hurts!" He tried to break out of the ironclad grip of his sister but to no avail.

Way to go Kawasaki! Insects should be crushed like this.

"Bye, bye Saki-san, Taishi-kun!" My sister called after the retreating figures. My sister was right to say proper goodbyes even if the other pair of siblings was rude, so I joined her.

"Take care Kawasaki!"

This made the ponytail of the Kawasaki sister dance from side to side. As expected of a loner of her level, she immediately denied the possibility of being herself to be the called out to with such an unspecified addressee.

This probably was the first and only time I was thankful for Taishi's presence, as this turned out to be quite the amusing situation.

"For you to talk about women like that to someone else, you've really changed."

"The eye topic again? It's just a temporary visual change because of the season or what not. Nah, I haven't changed one bit. Why should I? I've always been fine with the way I am." I denied Komachi's claim and that alone was proof that I had no change of heart yet. Eyes were one thing, they could give people the wrong impression as they were on the outside and thus were superficial and interpretable. Mine scared people away despite me being such a decent person, a tear could come from sadness or laughing too hard. Eyes were always misleading.

This didn't mean that hearts, despite being on the inside were any more fool-proof than the eyes.

It's just that the one being fooled was a different person. The eyes fooled others, the heart fooled oneself. Thinking like this made it questionable where to find something genuine in this world, if even the own body wasn't really reliable. How could a connection between two humans then ever be?

"There he goes with his cheap distractions again…" Oblivious to my extremely deep thoughts, Komachi interrupted me from finding a solution for world peace.

"We should get going too or pops will get angry for real." I said while looking at the phone display.

"Roger that." She said and linked her arm with mine. "But you know, it really makes me happy that you're moving forward. It's like the best birthday present ever."

I waited for more to come but she didn't add anything to this. So I went ahead and asked.

"Well it did sound rude, like you're trying to force me out of the house... but that hasn't kept you from adding points before. So, no Komachi points this time?"

"Nope, we can't stay the same forever."

"What a troublesome thought…" Like truly troublesome. Couldn't I just cancel everything? The dates, advancing to the next class and all that what represented change? Way to make feel me depressed.

"I've got enough points to cash them in for the rest of your life. Your amount looks kinda pitiful though. I doubt it'll last even through university." Her ruthless calculation system made me groan in pain.

"You're telling me to be extra nice from now on? And here I thought I was a fine brother as is. Will be hard to be any nicer." Hopefully she was open for negotiations, I didn't want a future without her. Even if she was joking, that scenario was way too scary. Not going to take any risks with this.

"Silly boy. If you could claim a girl just with being nice, even Chuuni would get one."

"Oh but he got one, her name is Comiket-chan."

"2D?"

"No, he just met her there. I have no clue about her real name."

"Ehhhh?! No way!" Wow, that was rude. Zaimokuza's heart would have shattered if he had heard that. Should I text him with a quote?

"Aaaanyway, if you want to really make a girl fall for you and keep her, you need to be more than just nice. We're not so easily obtainable."

"Oh? What should I do to keep you then?" Naturally other girls came later, Komachi first!

"Mhhhhh meeee?" Her tone got really annoying, I feared the worst. "Simple. Just make me a cute niece or nephew."

Simple she said…. and it's gotta be cute huh? That was tricky. Cute kinda implied Komachi being necessary for it, but nephew and niece excluded her being the mother.

"Impossible." I murmured.

"How can you say that with so many cute girls around you?"

"But no one is as cute as Komachi." The desperation from facing the herculean task made me unaware what I said.

…

A well deserved silence and the unlinking of the arms was only logical.

"Geez, surprise attacks are unfair. I already told you how to get enough points to keep me with you."

Surprisingly this still struck a chord with my changing sister and we went towards home side by side. If we had hold our hands it would have make for an awesome ending scene in a dating sim.

* * *

Since it was Komachi's birthday we went out for dinner and naturally it had nothing to do with me outside of being an asset. Both parents were showering my sister with overflowing attention and love. I didn't mind it though as I was still busy with thinking about what Komachi had demanded from me.

Of course she wasn't that dead serious with it. I mean there was no way to be so irresponsible and get a kid before graduating from university, but I was surprised at myself how it occupied my mind. I wouldn't mind a cute daughter to dot on. Getting insulted by Rumi Rumi proved this clearly to me, but still… it was too much of a distant future. And there were many important steps to take first too.

Even with me doing the dating, there was no guarantee that any of the girls would want me afterwards. And what if none of them were suitable for the genuineness I sought?

If I kept pondering too deeply about these thoughts, I was in for a massive depression. How should I distract myself? The only device I had with me was my phone.

I quickly went through the contact list to check with whom I could openly talk about making babies. Not that I had so many people to choose from in the first place.

The girls I dated with? Nope, at best it would be taken as a proposal, at worst it was just creepy.

My family? Hahaha… no. That was the very definition of awkwardness and creepiness.

The three boys? No way, I would just give them weird thoughts. And Taishi was probably squashed to death by now anyway. As for Zaimokuza, it was creepy regardless of the topic. Naturally Totsuka was too innocent for talking about babies.

Hiratsuka-sensei? The first reasonable person that came to mind, but with her current state of desperately looking for marriage it would be just too cruel to talk with her about descendants. Before I'd know what was going on, I might end up proposing to stop her tears too. How realistic this possibility was, creeped me out quite a bit. I felt way too much pity for my teacher.

I wanted to think about Yukinoshita's sister as conversation partner too for this topic, but I just couldn't remember her name. Even her face didn't come to my mind, just a massive amount of tape you'd see on a murder scene in movies with the writing of 'DANGER!' on it. Whatever she might do upon hearing me say 'baby' was probably beyond creepy.

Even with my contact list having grown this much, there was only one person left.

She made it this far only by being undated, not a relative, a girl and sane enough.

Just how creepy was my contact list? I felt the urge to delete them all on the spot.

Anyway, I never saw a cell phone as a communication tool first and foremost, but a device for self-entertainment.

This was not the right place and company for watching porn though, which was the first logical thought when it came to combining 'self-entertainment' and 'babies'.

…

Maybe I was the creep all along.

I quickly opened the PDF of a Light Novel. This would hopefully mark the end of these thoughts that my sister so carelessly started to trigger in me.

What a coincidence! Just by chance, I accidently chose a random Light Novel with strong ecchi elements…

Well, switching to something prude is too bothersome. And not like a little arousal before I got home could hurt.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

I was sitting at my desk, taking out one tool after the other from a small box.

My diary was left untouched so far this evening. Thinking about today I felt melancholic and didn't want to write about it yet.

It shouldn't be like this when Hayato had time to spend with us. I even had so much hope for today and was so excited, but… it was just another day without any progress.

Was it my fault for expecting too much?

"Crap." I said as I made a mistake in my painting upon the unpleasant thought.

I wasn't wrong to hope, what would life be if I didn't? It would be meaningless and sad. I really intended to make a move on Hayato, but things were out of my control today.

Yes it was all Yamato-kun's fault for having yet another new girlfriend. Was he collecting them?

"Damn." My frustration about this classmate made me mess up another line.

Thanks to that rugby player taking her along with us, Ooka-kun was clinging to Hayato all the time spouting stupid stuff like 'we Singles have to stick together'. Hayato had no chance but to sympathise with him, he was always there for his friends after all. But Hayato being so kind to his friends did end all my ambitions for today. Before I could even do something!

If that wasn't bad enough, Tobe got all giddy upon seeing Yamato conquering a new girl as well and tried to get closer to Ebina in return. Of course she blocked all his attempts, like usual. Because of this I couldn't have a good talk with her either.

And Yui wasn't there too. Thus I ended up being bored and looked at my phone most of the time.

I had wondered whether to message her and ask how things were going on her side. She had told me about the birthday after all, so it wouldn't be, like, weird to ask her.

Though I might have ended up disturbing her and thus I didn't. Just because it had not been going so well on my end, I couldn't ruin her chances as well.

On the other hand, 'it wasn't anything like a date or so...' That's what I thought often this afternoon, but I didn't let my curiosity get the better of me. I stood strong like a good friend should.

My resolution had lasted until I was on my way back home from shopping at least. Because we hung out directly after school to fit Hayato's schedule, I didn't get to shop until way later into the afternoon. It was then when I became so bored that I reached the prefect conclusion to one dilemma of mine. While good friends didn't disturb, best friends should offer their support. And for that I needed to know the situation. This way I had texted her without any feeling of guilt and asked her if she had fun.

Her reply came quickly so I guessed she had time at hand and I went on with mailing her. We exchanged plenty of messages, enough that the conversation went on even when I had reached home. She wrote like she was pretty excited about the birthday party, but that got me thinking.

If she enjoyed it this much, why did she spend so much time in replying to me? Was it already over?

I asked her.

'yeah… (;T_T)~~ Komachi-chan and Hikki had to go for dinner with their parents'

That was the first message she mentioned Hikio in. Before that it had been about his sister, animals and just a little bit about Yukinoshita-san. Probably out of consideration for me as Yui was that kind of girl to think about other people's feelings. I didn't mind that stuck up girl all that much anymore since the marathon, but I doubt I'd ever consider her a friend.

When I had read that message though, it wasn't time to think about Yukinoshita-san anyway. I jumped at the chance and asked why he wasn't part of the party till now followed by a small joke if he just left home only to pick up his sister and had no part in it before.

It was then that I learned that Kawasaki-san's little brother existed and that he was a friend of Hikio's sister. That wasn't what I wanted to read though.  
Yui had yet to tell me of the date, so officially I didn't know that she was interested in him. She should spill the beans by herself, but… I didn't like the feeling of not being able to just ask her directly. There was no honesty towards her in that, and not from me to myself either.

 _Come on, tell me_ I kept repeating in my head.

Instead of revealing whether she liked him or not, she only explained that Hikio stuck to Kawasaki-san's little brother so that Komachi's friend wouldn't feel like being left out of the group. Thus, she didn't know what they had been doing.

Such a dry explanation, I sighed. And nothing I didn't already know.

Hikio helping someone else is basically his nature.

I couldn't make Hikio responsible for this lack of progression though, as I had a kind of similar feeling today as that Taishi-kun guy and would have liked Hayato to care about me in the same way as Hikio did for him.

But he had his hands full with Ooka-kun and that's probably going to last for a while.

It didn't look like Yui would tell me anything new today and boredom quickly returned to me.

I was looking to cure it by doing a hobby of mine.

But being pent up with frustration, I couldn't concentrate enough to draw on my fingernails properly.

Annoyed by this I put all the tools back into the small box.

What to do now? As I went through the messages on my cell phone, I spotted a series of nonsense-mails by Hikio from this morning. Did he truly believe he could fool me by pretending he didn't send me the text about wanting to play with my hair in the middle of the night? I mean it was right there!

I didn't have the chance to set that straight today because he didn't come to the super market.

Mhhh… why not doing it now? Maybe he'll slip up and has no choice but to admit he was the sender of the mail. On top of that he might say something that Yui forgot to mention, she wasn't all that good when it came to her memory.

This should be fun, and I would finally be able to say goodbye to my boredom.

If I just texted him again he would have too much time to think between his answers. I doubt I could trick him into admitting this way. Thus, I straight up called him.

The phone rang way shorter than I had thought.

"Woah, don't scare me like that!"

"Now you're treating me like a ghost?! " My eyebrows twitched considerably just from being one second into the call.

"Ghost? No I just…" He made a pause. Don't tell me he forgot it already. "Oh that, thanks for reminding me, that was really spooky right?"

Urgh, since my thoughts were filled with tricking him I made the wrong assumption. Now he was on guard about this topic and the same conversation from this morning would just repeat.

"Hmpf, whatever. Did you have fun?" I switched my objective from getting him to admit towards getting new details about Yui and Hikio.

"I guess I did enjoy myself during dinner with my family, so yes."

"Huh? But what about the party?"

"Errr, don't remind me of that."

"Oh, did something bad happen?" Yui hadn't mentioned anything that could warrant such a response.

"There was that persistent insect we just couldn't shake off."

"Insect? Like a swarm of them?" What did he mean? The season for insects was still far off.

"Not a swarm, just a single big one. Komachi was in great danger the whole time!"

"You're not making any sense."

"I totally do! Wait let me try a different way to explain the graveness of the situation. Mmmhhh… do you know the delinquent girl with the blue ponytail from our class?"

"Kawasaki-san?"

"Yeah I think her name was something like that too."

"No, I wasn't guessing her name."

"Oh right, you're her classmate after all. But guess what, turns out her brother is a classmate of Komachi too. I'm betting an eye that he kind of wants something from her. So instead of me spending my sister's birthday with her I had to keep that guy away."

"Did she invite any other friends from school?"

"Nah, she will celebrate with her girls clique on the weekend."

"That means he was all alone today?"

"I tried my best to make sure of that." He boasted pridefully on the phone, which actually confused me.

"That's not what I meant. You see, it can get quite difficult if you're the only one your age in a group."

"Huh? I wouldn't know. But I can see it being true. Well Komachi is a pretty straightforward person you see. And she does have kind of a thing for Yukinoshita and Yuigahama… so she was around them all the time. I guess he would have ended up alone just like you said. Even if I didn't make sure of it. Better safe than sorry though."

That sounded pretty cold of him, but when I connected the dots with what Yui told me, I knew his real intentions.

"Seems to me like you wanted to help him."

"Errr, how the heck did you reach that conclusion? Why would I do anything that endangers Komachi?"

"You can't stand it if people are alone right?" I remembered what he said about the little girl at the summer camp.

"No, no, that's way off the mark. I have no problem with people being alone. As a worrying brother I would be happy if-"

"Fine, it's people who are alone but not by choice then right? Don't be so nit-picky." Damn, even though I almost got it right.

"That's a pretty important detail though…"

I didn't understand the difference. Sure, there were times someone wanted to be alone, but that is something entirely else from being alone all the time. Whether by choice or not… wasn't it just lonely either way? I knew I was sad when I was alone.

"He wouldn't have been alone by choice, correct?" Not letting the topic going astray, I pressed on.

"That's pure speculation, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"That's why you couldn't not help him." I was sure of it. If I understood one thing about Hikio, it was him being such a goodhearted person.

"But I didn't…" Still trying to deny it, huh?

"Yeah, right." I giggled, fully convinced.

"It's annoying if my worries and frustration aren't taking seriously…" He sounded really miffed but that too was fun. At least for me. With him being out of his comfort zone it was my time to strike.

"I guess so…makes you want to play with my hair, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

"Like when you sent me the message last night?"

"Even more so now."

"Aha! You finally admitted it!" Finally! I won!

"No, wait… did you… did you plan that all along?"

"Who knows?" Tasting victory over him for once felt so good I couldn't resist teasing him some more.

"You're surprisingly crafty, makes you pretty scary. Now I'm a bit glad about not going to the grocery store tomorrow."

"Ah! Again? Why that?"

"Didn't I tell you? Tomorrow is the date with Yukinoshita. You see it's still pretty cold outside, so I need to make use of the warming sun as much as possible. Oh, I didn't even tell her about it yet. Thanks for reminding me!"

"But why? And what about, like, the food for your family and so?" I didn't want this, it was fine if it was Yui, but why should I step back for the other girls?

"Wow you sound kinda desperate about seeing me. Don't worry Komachi offered to go shopping in my stead tomorrow. We won't starve."

"I'm not desperate…"

"Like I said, don't worry. As long as you have that hair to play with I will let you tag along at the supermarket." Oh right, we had been talking about the hair. What happened to me bathing in my victory? How could I let him switch the topic so easily? Crap.

"I won't let you do that though, you can play with your own hair."

"Haeh? Why is that?"

"Last time you did that it hurt a lot, remember?"

"But that was just because you suddenly pulled away!"

I wasn't letting him blame me for that. There was a line how ridiculous one could get.

"No, you won't be able to talk yourself out of this one and suddenly end up as the innocent, no chance."

"Urgh, you're so calm… your fingers are going through your hair right now, right?"

"What if they did? It's mine after all."

"So unfair…."

"You're such a hair fetishist."

"Not really, yours is the only one I care about."

He spoke with such conviction that it caught me by surprise and I had a hard time to find anything to respond to that. I didn't want to let the pause get any long though and just said whatever without thinking about it.

"Geez, you're talking nonsense. Go to sleep already."

"Yes, mam'." His reply came immediately and was followed by the beeping of the phone which signalled that he had ended the call.

So abruptly! I didn't really mean for him to hang up! He used my careless words as a way to escape the conversation in such an obvious way that I nearly dialled him again to call him out on it.  
But I didn't. The talk has gone astray too much, I wouldn't even know what say next.

Talking with him could be so exhausting, but my boredom was gone. I would go to bed soon too, before that though I had to fill my diary about today.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Breakfast with my sister, what a wonderful way to start the day with. Hand-prepared by the best in the world. I could hear her cute munching, see her face and her bed hair. This was basically marriage I'd say.

Yet things weren't as good as they appeared on the surface.

Komachi wouldn't be Komachi if she didn't ask for repayment for her super valuable time she would spend and never get back when she'd replace me on my shopping duty.

To erase this debt I will have to prepare tonight's dinner all on my own, as she will recover from the great lengths she was about to go for me.

And to eat my share of tomatoes fully this morning.

Her cruelty was as outstanding as every other aspect of her.

My sister wasn't the only outstanding person with a cruel side to her. Miura was such a person as well, even if she wasn't aware of it. That she was archetype of an extraordinary person didn't require any explanation to everyone who saw her. Her kindness on the other wasn't as obvious to everyone and only a few selected people knew of it. As for her cruelty I had no doubt of being the only one knowing it.

How she ruined my perfectly planned out evening couldn't be labelled anything less than torture. After I had gotten myself into the mood by reading through the ecchi light novel during the restaurant and in the car on the way back home, I was so ready to move on to the real deal on my phone for the finisher. [4]

I had already carefully selected the video I wanted to watch for it. But just when I was to hit on the play button, my phone put on an unfamiliar green button on top of the play icon.

Without intending to do so I had accepted a call.

It all was so sudden, I couldn't even read who had called me nor couldn't I not voice my surprise.

For my phone to ring was unusual in the first place, but the response of the other side was even more so. When I first had heard a female voice say 'ghost' I thought it was just a prank call and was about to hang up immediately, but the voice sounded similar and when I moved the phone from my ear in front of my eyes again, there wasn't just an unknown number displayed.

Yumiko was written there and thinking back to yesterday's morning I could connect the dots quickly.

For such a surprise attack the conversation went pretty well overall. She even reminded me to notify Yukinoshita on what to bring to the date tomorrow and when I would pick her up. Which I did via mail just after the call.

For that I should have been thankful, but after talking to Miura I couldn't possibly relief myself anymore. It would have been just wrong with her being a friend and all.

All the pent up mood, such torture.

Under the carefully watching eyes of Komachi I eventually managed to eat even the last tomato bits and hurried to school.

* * *

Nobody had a reason to stare daggers at my back today and since we were already past the exams, except for the makeup ones, school was passing by ever so peacefully. I could openly learn for maths in every period and free up more time at home. The memorisation process went way easier this year than in all the previous ones. Which was a bit weird, as my private math studies were still far from catching up to the topics covered in the exam. I guess that knowing the basics of maths helped too, even in advanced topics.

Nonetheless I still went to the last of the supplementary lessons before the makeup exams would be held in about two weeks. Just in case they were dishing out even more material for us to digest.

Luckily for me and Yuigahama they didn't. Even better, the teacher was in high spirits and made my classmate understand a topic. He was strangely looking way too exhausted and happy after accomplishing that feat though. _She could still see you, you know?_ I thought to myself as I found it quite rude.

Of course I didn't get any of his explanations, but unlike me Yuigahama had tried to pay attention in class. So no surprise there. I had settled on my battle of memorisation anyway and if the gibberish thing he uttered made sense to my classmate it meant less trouble for me.

Things were looking quite good for once.

After the supplementary lessons I said my goodbyes to Yuigahama. The club president wasn't here today to pick her up again, which was and wasn't odd at the same time.

I headed home quickly, took a shower, filled the basket with content and headed to Yukinoshita's place.

* * *

"Hello?"

It was still the same place I had in my memories, it was still the same ring of the door's bell, but the voice was a different one.

"Ah, I got the wrong bell. I'm sorry to have bothered you." I quickly uttered an apology and wanted to make a quick retreat. Even if the voice was different, it wasn't an unfamiliar one.

"Oh my, is that Hikigaya-kun? Don't even think of moving from the spot, I'll come down!"

"No, I only-" I tried to stop her, but the terminal had clicked already and was silent ever since.

My first thought was to escape at the fastest speed possible, but a date didn't only bind oneself to a specific time, but also a specific place.

And this location happened to have a new inhabitant. I knew that she moved in to spy on Yukinoshita for her mother, but I didn't expect her to be here now. Shouldn't a university student not be in, like, a university? For someone to be trained in becoming the next head of a huge company she had surprisingly a lot of free time.

Through the glass door I saw the elevator opening and Yukinoshita Haruno popped out of it.

She waved and smiled ever so cutely, her mouth opened to greet me, but of course I couldn't hear anything through the closed door. Realising that she hid her lipstick painted mouth behind a hand and it looked like she started to chuckle upon her mistake.

All of that was obviously an act. No way someone of her calibre would make such a simple blunder. It was all to raise her appeal.

And it worked.

In my mind I thanked the architect who came up with the idea of using a transparent door. It gave me a little time to get used to her visual appearance.

Which was stunning to say the least.

"Why are you dressed like a model who's about to go on a catwalk?" As soon as the door opened I asked her. No way this was anyone's casual home attire, no matter how rich she was.

"A compliment right of the bat? Did you learn that on your dates?"

How did she expect me to learn from something I had not done? Such a foolish girl.

Wait, I complimented neither Yuigahama nor Isshiki? How could I forget something so basic? I was majorly astonished by myself.

"Hahaha! You're as strange as ever, mixing the order up like this. You're supposed to drop the jaw before praising my beauty."

She sure was enjoying herself a bit too much, but I couldn't think of any good retaliation to dampen her mood though. She was right about being beautiful, even extraordinarily so today.

I closed my mouth and tried not to look at her. Ignoring her until Yukinoshita came down would probably the best course of action.

"Could it be that you have yet to say something like this to other girls? Oh my you making me blush!"

She wasn't blushing at all, I could see from the corner of my eyes. Although I was disappointed in me not being able to take them entirely off her, it didn't mean I was unhappy about watching her.

"So, why are you here?" Feeling guilty about looking at her like this I paid her the attention tax.

"I live her you dummy. Didn't she tell you?"

"Nah, I mean why you came down here. If it's about talking the intercom would have sufficed."

"Isn't it natural for the big caring onee-chan that I am to be curious about the guy who is taking my precious little sister out for a date?"

"Sounds like a lame reason. It's not like one can truly understand the other just by talking for a few minutes."

"You're right! We do need to spend way more time together! Let's go right now."

"O-on the other hand, outside of my family you're probably the person who understands me the most already, so there is no need for that."

"Oh why are you so cold to me? After all the trouble I went through coming down here to help you." She acted like she was hurt, but her smile never vanished. More so what kind of trouble did she go through? I get the stepping outside of the door is walking the extra mile, but what kind of trouble was using the elevator?

"Help me? Why would you do that?"

"Aren't we like really close? It's okay for people to help each other when they're close." To emphasise just how close we apparently were, she shrunk the physical distance to an uncomfortable degree.

"I get it that we're close…" My back was already against the wall of the small hallway entrance. "…but what kind of help are you talking about?."

"I'll get you in the right mood for the date of course." What was there to 'of course' about, this was so not 'of course' as it could get. And what's the right mood anyway? My questioning gaze made her explain, by forming a seductive smile with her lips. The smile had a little gap as if she was preparing for a kiss. I knew this from the countless loops I had seen of Isshiki doing it.

If it were any colder than this the hot air of her breathing coming out of this little gap would have been visible. I had a very hard time to suppress any sound coming from my gulp.

"H-how long do you think till she gets down here?" Before getting caught in her act I needed to grab the other Yukinoshita and hurry away from this place. My hand reached out to ring the doorbell one more time, but it was blocked. Haruno's put her arm between me and the communication terminal.

Confused by her action I inquired an explanation one more time with my eyes.

"Don't rush her, she's still in the shower." Haruno said nonchalantly.

In the shower huh? Wasn't that a bit late? This way she would still have get to dressed up and this meant I was stuck here with Haruno for a while longer.

Wait, if she had yet to dress up that also meant that currently she was….

"I-is that so?" I somehow my voice has gotten unsteady and high-pitched. If she wasn't some kind of weirdo going into the shower with a swimsuit on, the water drops would run down on her skin all the way from head to toe, passing various delicate areas…

Imagination was one of these two-edged swords. It could give you the greatest pleasure but also the biggest shame if you couldn't hide it. Under her observing gaze I didn't feel the privacy of my thoughts at all.

"Starting to fantasise? What a naughty boy." And whose fault would that be?

"Why would I fantasise about a shower? I took one too before coming here, it's a plain thing to do." It was probably in vain, but I denied her accusations anyway.

"Really? Let me see." Her eyes lit up dangerously.

The danger I felt was real and immediate. The cold of the wall sipped through my back, while my chest was about to burn from Haruno's hotness and my left was still blocked by her arm. There was only one escape route open. This felt like a battue.

My foot wasn't completely lifted from the ground yet as her second hand slammed onto the wall to my right.

"W-what's there to see about it?" At this point my voice wasn't more than a mere whimpering.

"I'll just give you some feedback." With that her face gotten too close to see it anymore.

Feedback my ass, this was a pushback! A push against the wall scene even, straight of a shoujo manga. Where was my rape whistle? I was certain to lose my virginity in the following moment. Though, within the overwhelming fear I had, a small bit of admiration for Haruno's boldness was mixed into it too.  
That Stockholm syndrome developed way too fast!

I felt Haruno's breath on my throat, was it from her nose or her mouth? The sensation was killing me as I cursed myself for not wearing the scarf today. I wanted to reinforce the image that it wasn't that cold anymore by not wearing it. Yukinoshita's date would only be possible if it was an outdoor one. That's why I had to do it as early as possible after school, when the sun was still providing some warmth.

"You're shampoo smells plain." She sounded cold and displeased, but her head didn't pull back. Instead the weight on my shoulder increased as her ticklish breaths continued.

"I didn't want to chemically persuade anyone, so I used an odourless shampoo. So if something is plain, it would be me, sorry."

"Is that conviction part of your genuine thing?" I didn't have an answer to this, but she didn't wait for one anyway. "Doesn't this smell good though?"

The arm, that had blocked my escape route to the street earlier, was now on the back of my head pushing it gently down.

Her bare collarbone was right in front of me, but she didn't push me all the way down. Was she giving me a choice on what to do? I certainly didn't need to go as close as she was to my throat to smell the captivating floral scent of her shampoo. Yet, this felt like an invitation.

No, this was too good to be true, she must be scheming something, Why would a person like her present herself so defencelessly all of a sudden.

Would I lose if I put my head in this cradle of hers and inhale as much as I could, or did it make me the winner? Even if I ended up in some sort of trap, wouldn't it be worth it?

I shouldn't underestimate the older Yukinoshita though. This woman was still a sly and mischievous superhuman, who loved to play around with others. Just because she had shown me a super cute docile side of hers in our various meetings didn't mean I should ever let my guard down around her.

There was also this lingering warning I had received from Hayama, that she went an extra mile to destroy everything she hated.

But, what was the meaning of progress if it didn't change anything? I certainly felt way closer to her after all the time I spend with her and if she really saw me as the little brother in law as she had claimed, there would be nothing wrong about letting her take care of me for a bit.

That's what onee-chans were there for right?

Oh what to do? Pondering over it didn't seem to go anywhere. As I made my decision, I let out a long breath which made Haruno tremble a little and I heard her laughing amiably.

Okay I'll-

"Nee-san what are you doing there?" A voice befitting for the Ice Queen reached our ears. She stood there at the glass door with a box to her feet.

"Oh, you're here already?" I only could see a weak reflection of Haruno's face in the glassy facade of the entrance as she responded to Yukinoshita nonchalantly, but I had the impression she was annoyed by the interruption. Probably because she knew her toy was about to be taken away by someone else.

I didn't want to interfere in what might become a quarrel between siblings, but I had to voice my concerns about what could affect the date.

"Won't you catch a cold if you're outside with that wet hair of yours?"

"What are you on about? I fixed my hair a while ago." As if to prove that everything was fine, she flicked the hair behind her shoulders. But something didn't add up.

"Didn't you come straight out of the shower…" then I realised what was wrong and looked at Haruno.

"Nee-san just what did you tell him?" Yukinoshita arrived at the same conclusion as I did. The murderous tone of hers even scared her older sister, or at least said sister pretended to be scared and clung fully onto me. Haruno's personal space was so narrow and yet so big and soft, how weird.

What really gave away her act of being afraid of her little sister was the teasing she gave in response.

"I thought it would be fun to have Hikigaya-kun thinking of your naked body at the start of the date. This way I'll get a much more interesting story from you afterwards."

Yukinoshita's eyes and mine met and we both head our heads coloured in a dark shade of red and couldn't follow up Haruno's comment in any way.

Oh crap, she was way worse than Insect-kun when it came to mention unnecessary things.

When something so uncomfortable happened as this, there was just one true right way to deal with the situation.

Pretend nothing ever happened and cry at home afterwards.

"If you're ready then let's go." Thus I ignored Haruno completely.

"Yeah, let's go!" Although I had sincerely ignored her with my eyes, the older Yukinoshita sister was the one to eagerly respond.

However, there was one major flaw with her response aside from her not being the addressed one.

She didn't let go at all, off me that was.

"You're not going anywhere except home." A very annoyed club president said. She then peeled Haruno off me despite her protests and shove her to the glass door.

All three of the Yukinoshita ladies could switch into the extraordinarily strict mother role so easily, it was quite terrifying.

Of course I knew that Haruno could fight back anytime if she really wanted and that her teary eyes were all just an act, but considering that I was on the receiving of Yukinoshita's strict personality for so long evoked some empathy with her.

"Thanks for taking care of me while I waited for your sister." Even if all she did was teasing me, she did come all the way down because of me. The only one surprised by me paying respect to the elderly was the younger Yukinoshita. Her sister on the other hand accepted my thanks as if she had expected it.

"You're welcome Cherry Boy!"

I made a wry smile to that remark, raised a hand as a half-assed imitation of waving goodbye and went away.

"Keep your virginity till your date with me!" My 'meddlesome girlfriend' yelled from behind. [5] How She could shout something like this out loud was beyond me. Three random people who passed by even turned their heads to look at me in curiosity.

She was really worse than Taishi, or more accurately, she excelled in even in the bad things.

Yukinoshita followed three steps behind me like we were already a married couple as I headed towards my bike. Most likely she just didn't want to be associated with me after Haruno's stunt.

I needed time to cool off my head, so I was fine with it.

* * *

We went to the nearby park in which I forced Yukinoshita to start facing her own future. While this place was a bit loaded with negative memories, it couldn't be avoided since I needed as much time under the sun as possible. And this park was the closest.

I spread the sheet, which I had fastened to my bike at home, on the ground to have our picknick on it. Yukinoshita placed the box she had carried as well as herself on it and I followed suite with a box. I had kept the box in the basket of my bike in which I usually stored the school bags of Komachi and me.

"Did you bring the book with you?" I asked.

"Yes. I know I asked you to read it, but is this really the time for it?" She took out the original story of Pan-san the panda."

"It's the best time for it. Think about it, a date exists to get to each other better, right? I want to know more about what you like so much, but summaries on the web would never come close to the real thing."

"I guess what you said makes sense." Still a bit hesitant she handed over the book that was so special for her. Although that might have been an understatement, her motion was as stiffer than that of antiquated robots.

I carefully put the book on the blanket before opening the box I had taken along with me. Kamakura sleeping inside it. I didn't want to wake him up so I shoved the entire box in front of Yukinoshita.

"You didn't think only of this for our… meeting, right?" Despite her being miffed about being treated as a simple cat-maniac, she immediately began to caress my sleeping feline.

"Of course not, we'll have a picknick as well."

"A picknick for which you made me do all the work."

"Err, that's not true in the slightest. For a picknick you need only two things right? Food to eat and a blanket to sit on top on. As you can see I burdened myself fairly with half of the workload."

"No wonder you have to go to the supplementary lessons if your quantitative estimation stops at the first level. A proper student would take the duration needed to prepare each half into consideration and evaluate the worth of each half accordingly."

Oddly enough this lecturing made me smile.

How nostalgic to be bickering around with the club president again. Finally I had found some normalcy within the recent weeks that were otherwise filled with first-time challenges.

This sentiment wasn't shared by Yukinoshita. In place of the mocking smile or cold expression she had shown me many times in the past, her current one had was that of displeasure. Which was weird as she was able to stroke the sleeping Kamakura. Did I miscalculate at some point? That couldn't be, I had the vast knowledge of two semi-successful dates after all.

Thus I began to read the book called "Hello, Mister Panda". It was one of the few signs that gave away thus books age. If you were to buy it nowadays you could only buy it under the title of "Panda's Garden". Other than the book's title there were only few traces of usage to be spotted. This fact made me smile.

"Looks like you treated this with great care right from the beginning." I tried to imagine a younger Yukinoshita carefully heaving the large book onto a tidy desk with the English dictionary next to it. The dictionary might have been heavier despite being smaller, this was a book for children and not all that long. but since I had no idea how she looked like back then the image had a strong resemblance to Tsurumi Rumi. I wonder what she was doing right now.

"It was a present after all." She showed the first gentle smile during this date. And it was entirely because of her fond memories about the book and had nothing to do with either me or the cat in front of her.

Even as a present, normal young children wouldn't treat books with such great care as she did to preserve the good condition of it. It probably had to do with the person who gave it to her.

Who could have been that person? I only met three persons who knew Yukinoshita as young child. Her mother, Haruno and Hayama.

For Hayama to have given her this kind of book at that age would make him more inhumanly than I ever imagined. I couldn't rule out Haruno though. While Yukinoshita's rare comments about her childhood suggests that her sister was quite the lively mischievous troublemaker, she also was quite the bookworm from my own observations. Passing an English book to her little sister could have been some secret training as well.

The mother was a mixed candidate. On one hand the child training from an early age fitted her image perfectly, but on the other hand she would have probably picked something harder to grasp than a book for children.

I had no clue about her relationship with her father other than him allowing his daughter to live in her own apartment.

It was a book written by a father to his son, but did this mean anything?

Anyway, I better start reading it while Yukinoshita was still busy with the cat.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw her hand move rather forcefully through Kamakura's fur. This surprised me as it was nothing like her when dealing with cats.

Kamakura woke up and looked confused and as unhappy as a cat could.

He wasn't outside that often and probably found it very cold compared to the kotatsu he often slept under. [6]

After comparing the two humans around him he decided to climb on my lap to sleep some more.

Yukinoshita was alone and appeared to be even more frustrated than before.

I wasn't at fault for her sour mood, I mean who could have anticipated that a cat would actually want to spend time with its owner?!

There was more to her aura she gave off to be able to describe it as being simply frustrated. If I had to put my finger on it, I'd also say that there was a hint of sadness oozing from her as well. Her whole body language looked rather lifeless compared to her usual radiant self that earned her the nickname of Ice Queen too.

Come to think of it, she wasn't all that much into the date right from the start. Didn't she refer to it as 'meeting' earlier? Did she really want to be here with me? Or did Haruno's ambush on me make her like this?

The book has left my field of vision long ago and I was staring intensively at Yukinoshita. Her behaviour was in stark contrast to Isshiki and Yuigahama. Of course I didn't anticipate her to be as active as them, but she could show at least a little effort…

"Wh-what is it?" She asked me looking instantly away upon noticing me observing her.

Even now she avoided eye contact.

Then it dawned me.

All these little oddities I had noticed this afternoon. Her walking behind me when usually she was the one to take the lead. That she emphasised her share in the workload. When she asked me if all I would do was reading and leaving her to play with Kamakura. How she only used one hand for stroking my cat.

There was only one truth to it.

"Are you a moron?" I asked her.

The club president had her mouth open but she was speechless. Another oddity!

A short-lived moment, but it still counted.

Yukinoshita wouldn't be Yukinoshita if she didn't recover quickly. Or was it simply her pent up frustration that erupted? Her expression turned into a scowl when she raised her voice against me.

"How am I the idiot when you're the one who-"

"Could it be that you bought something like a dating guide?"

"Even if I did, there is nothing wrong with it. In fact it would be a mistake not to do it. When you cook the first time in your live you follow a recipe instead of just throwing everything close to you into a pot. Gathering knowledge in advance through books to prepare yourself properly for a new experience is only common sense and shouldn't be looked down on."

This wasn't her usual endless speech to cover embarrassment, I felt her conviction in those words.

"I'm not looking down on you for reading such a book, actually that's amiable. Also that you went the extra mile to prepare for the date. But you made a huge mistake and that's why I'm calling you a moron."

"State your reason then." She crossed her arms and waited for me to explain myself.

"You expected me to act just like those guys in your books. Those are written with normal people in mind, not for someone like me."

"Mmmhh I see, you're really far from being a normal human being after all."

"You could have said that a bit nicer." I bet this behaviour wasn't in those guides too. "But you're right nonetheless. If people walk behind me, I won't see it as a test, expecting me to slow down. It just makes me feel like they don't want to be associated with me. Wasn't it like that in Kyoto too? After we ate ramen with Hiratsuka-sensei and went back to the hotel."

"That was.." Yukinoshita bit her lips in response. She knew that it was true. The only reason why she was in the hotel lobby to begin with when Hiratsuka-sensei picked us up was because she was pressured by the girls in her room with talk about boys. In that case because of me due to our display during the cultural festival. [7] I didn't need to hear an apology or something like that, thus I continued.

"I'm trying, but I'll do it in my own way. I wasn't lying when I said I wanted to get to know you better by reading this book. As for the other stuff in your guide… I'll try to go as far as I can there too." This was another realisation I had. For me it was the third date, but I was pretty sure it was the first for Yukinoshita. Like Isshiki and Yuigahama did it for me in those two dates, now it was my turn to take the lead in the physical stuff as well.

As a sign of my determination of living up to my words and mine my body moved. But just a bit closer to hers, we didn't touch yet. I didn't want to make any grand moves because of Kamakura on my lap. It would be a complete pain to chase him if he is taken by surprise and ran away. That was totally the reason for it. The gap was very narrow though.

Yukinoshita's body trembled in response.

"You're feeling cold?" I chose the early hours of the afternoon for the date to prevent that, but all the consideration meant nothing in the face of a single strong breeze during the last weeks of winter.

"A bit." She admitted.

"Sorry about that, but there is no warm place where one can read in peace and bring a cat along."

I took the ends of the blanket behind us and pulled it over our shoulders. My third date took her end of the blanket and I retraced my hand to pick up the book again. Carrying such a large blanket was quite some work, so I was a little offended when she treated my effort as if it was nothing.

"Thank you." Her words were barely more than a whisper and I could only hear them because we were sitting so close to each other.

It was only chilly when the wind blew, the overall temperatures weren't that bad. Although after the incident with Haruno I judged it was too early and dangerous to leave the house without a muffler again.

But the weather sure was changing at a fast pace this year again, befitting a coastal city like Chiba. It hadn't been that long ago when Miura wore scarfs around her legs. Oh my, how strange that sight was. Just the memory of it would heighten my spirits whenever I needed it. But being under the blanket with a book with someone reminded me on how I read to Komachi when she was still younger.

Mom and Pops were always work slaves, so she would come and beg me to read her books for children sometimes.

"What are you thinking of?"

"Huh?"

"When you were first brought to the clubroom by sensei, you didn't smile like that."

"Who would in that situation? The whole club idea was presented to me as a punishment for hurting sensei's feelings."

"I didn't mean that particular moment, just the time. You would sneer and make disgusting sounds, an upright smile like this was impossible with your face back then."

"Were the insults really necessary? Also that's not true at all, I'm pretty sure my smile for Komachi didn't change one bit."

Yukinoshita sighed.

"Of course it was her you thought of."

"It's unavoidable when the situations are this similar."

"You went on a date with her too?!"

"Don't be silly, like she would have agreed to that. And I don't have the guts to ask her anyway."

"Now that is a whole new problem there."

"ANYWAY, there were times when she was rather clingy because we were alone at home often. She would come to me with one of her books and wanted me to read it to her. Komachi was so cute when she cried after I refused it. So eventually I gave in…"

"She was good at manipulating you even back then."

"Shush. So when it was winter we snuck under the kotatsu and I read to her. And she always came back for more, my brotherly skills were top notch even back then." I decided to brag a little at the end as Yukinoshita often did when she told us about her past. Well my sister didn't do this that often and the frequency varied a lot.

My current waiting time was only about nine years, but one day she would come back to me with a book again. Hopefully.

"Then read to me to."

"Err, what?" I asked dumbfounded, I probably heard it wrong.

"Proof me your skills and I will evaluate them." Nope, it was still the same nonsense when I listened carefully.

"I didn't ask you to show me your fencing skills either when you bragged about learning it in just three days." Such a ridiculous demand, like I would ever do that. And what about the evaluating part? Would she turn it into a competition or was it just her inner strict mother personality speaking?

"You would want me to show you my swordsmanship?" That was definitely a threat! I had no intention of ending up as Hach Kabob. [8]

"N-no need!" And thus I began reading, albeit I was a bit nervous and shaky while doing so. My dating partner was too scary.

After I had read for another five minutes, I noticed that Yukinoshita was on the verge of dozing off. Her head bounced back into an upright position every now and then and her body was slightly swaying.

Hey, my reading wasn't that bad!

"Coming to a date being all sleepy, that's awfully rude of you."

"And whose fault do you think is it?"

"You're blaming me?"

"Notifying me so late in the evening to prepare a picknick all of a sudden. I had to spend half of the night in the kitchen."

"Err, isn't that a bit exaggerating?"

"Again, you're not taking into account how long it takes to prepare a proper meal. There would have been not enough time after to school if I didn't get the preparations done in advance."

"Just what did you make? Some sandwich or onigiri would have totally sufficed. It was supposed to be a simple picknick after all."

"You don't have to eat it if you find it not fitting the occasion." She probably intended to be all intimidating, but due to her sleepy look it invoke pity within me instead.

"Not at all I'll eat all up, I might even ask for seconds and thirds."

"I-it would be troublesome if you'd want that much…" A panic flashed on her face as she looked over to the lunchbox she had brought along.

A sleep-deprived Yukinoshita was very cute as she showed her emotions in a more open and understandable manner.

"Do you want to eat now?"

"Could you read some more? The next scene will be…" She didn't finish her sentence in order not to spoiler me. That piqued my interest, what kind of scene would she like?

"I could do that as appreciation for the food." I read further, the next scene turned out to be the drunken boxing scene. Didn't she call it a minor scene before that was only emphasised in the Dizney version? I guess drunken pandas were funny to everyone.

More importantly I noticed again how unsteady the club president because of her lack of sleep.

"You know, if you want to you could my shoulder as pillow." I volunteered my shoulder to her generously.

"Then I'll take you up on the offer."

That's what she said, but she didn't take any action to follow up her words.

Yukinoshita was clearly hesitating on what to do. I totally understood that hesitation. If it weren't for Isshiki's and Yuigahama's boldness to take action themselves, I would have probably refrained from making any moves as well. It was time for me to take the lead again, but I couldn't be half-assed about it anymore. I reached out with my hand to her most distanced shoulder and pulled her over till her head was touching my own shoulder.

"I-it will be easier for you to reach Kamakura that way too." Well, as long as only my excuses remained half-assed it should be fine.

"I see." She whispered.

With Yukinoshita leaning against me and stroking the cat, I finished the book shortly after.

She didn't ask me for my thoughts on it.

When one was really passionate about something, naturally one wanted others to like it just as much. However, the chances of that were slim at best. She was probably aware of that and dodged the issue altogether.

Did I reach my goal though? Did I learn anything by reading this? She certainly wasn't mistaken about it conveying the love by the father for his son to the reader. But this book wasn't just written out of love. It was because of the father's wish too study animals in China that his son was forced to move away from everything he knew and settle in this unknown land.

It was very presumptuous of me, but parental love seemed to be a big topic Yukinoshita. Haruno had once said that her mother was scary.

I knew too little of her family to know for sure, even if I did and my guess was right, what then?

Suddenly I felt something touching me.

I looked at my hand and saw Yukinoshita's retracing quickly.

"My apologies, I asked you if you wanted to eat something, but you were spacing out."

"Ah sorry, I was just thinking about the book."

Upon hearing that she started to giggle. "You're just like Nee-san."

"I don't know if this is supposed to be a good thing or not…."

"After reading a book she just sits there in silence and looking into the distance thinking deeply about what she has just read."

"So you don't know whether this is a good thing or not either, but it's hard to imagine her like that around you. I was sure she was a lively little green goblin playing mischievous pranks the whole day at home."

Huh? Yukinoshita began to tremble again, she placed her hands on her mouth but occasionally 'pfff' sounds were escaping nonetheless. It gradually built up and then I saw something for the first time.

"Hahahaha!" Yukinoshita breaking out into heartful laughter. I just enjoyed this angelic scene for as long as it lasted.

"That was awfully rude of you." She tried to give me a stern look once she had calmed down, but the colour on her face from laughing so long had not vanished off her cheeks yet and made it have little effect.

"Anyway, it's good to hear that she stops meddling with you sometimes. Although, the more she bothers you, the more peace I have….meep"

Upon saying this, the light-hearted mood was gone in a flash and Yukinoshita's face has regained her usual strictness which shut me up.

"Now you're talking big, but you didn't look so resisting earlier."

"She is getting better at ambushing me. I was trapped despite trying so hard. Her knowing my every move of escape, that's so eerie." This wasn't a lie at all but Yukinoshita's strict glance didn't seize. These two sisters were equally frightening to be honest.

At least I had an idea on how to diffuse one of them.

I grabbed her hand and showed her how to find Kamakura's soft spots by moving her hand around in his fur. As the owner of this cat for several years I knew how to make him mewing a lot.

Instantly my dating partner's strict persona vanished and was replaced with a flustered, blushing girl.

Weird though that she looked at me this way instead of keeping her eyes on the cat. Even though I went out of my way to teach her how to get the proper responses from him.

She made such a big deal out of holding hands that my bravado shrunk quickly. I got a weird feeling in the stomach. Did I go too far? Yuigahama and Isshiki made it look like it was nothing to be even concerned about.

We both grew overly aware of the other tensing up. There was no trace of tiredness left on her face. If I slid my hand down to check her pulse, I surely would find it beating like crazy. I know mine did.

Help came from where I had least expected it. The weird feeling in my stomach from earlier caused a loud rumble.

Yukinoshita sighed and started to speak.

"Let's start eating, it would be bad if all this food goes to waste."

"You can count on me, I won't let that happen." I removed my hand from hers to point at me.

During our picknick we talked about books, excluding 'Hello, Mister Panda' of course. It was a pleasant talk that only few at my school would be able to hold at level.

The food was delicious too. I kept my word and made sure there were just enough leftovers for Komachi. Perhaps I could skip the cooking on my own this way.

I didn't know when it started, but along the way to Yukinoshita's apartment we had casually started to hold hands. So soft and fragile. At least this was going according to her dating 101 book.

The date was over, not just this one but the whole first dating turn.

Did I grow because of this experience? I certainly did things that were unthinkable a few weeks ago, like actively grabbing someone's hand. So probably I did, maybe.

Hands.

That was also an issue that increased my uncertainty about the whole dating process. Each girl had soft hands, so how am I supposed to say which one felt the best? Was there in difference in the same attribute? Did it even matter?

Did it make the blurry image of my genuine thing any clearer? Was this the right path to achieve it?

Isshiki has opted out, but still wanted to continue. This was as confusing as it could possibly get to me. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful to have her as comparison in the future or if it was just distracting.

If Hiratsuka-sensei was right about me having to think it all through, and if I get stuck then I was supposed to think some more then I'd probably need more than one life to do so. And that after the input of just three dates! There were still so many weeks till the deadline, how could hope to meet it?

Questions upon questions and things to consider flooded my mind on my way home. Would my peaceful life ever return?

* * *

Yumiko PoV

This was huge, huge, huge!

I couldn't hold back my excitement even hours later when I wrote about it in my diary.

Hayato finally came to ask me.

What should I do? What should I wear? This was all so sudden.

A chance of this quality wouldn't come so easily again. I definitely needed to score a lot of points with him. And there should be plenty of opportunities for me to do so. But I needed to plan, to prepare for it.

My heart was racing, my brain was close to an overload from all the thinking. Sleep wouldn't be able to hinder me from working out a strategy. I was so pumped up, I wasn't sure if I could fall asleep even if I wanted to.

But, but! Didn't I need to be in in top shape? I would need a lot of sleep to avoid a disaster with my look!

If there were any bags under my eyes tomorrow, I would have to kill myself.

Just what was I supposed to do?

After I had finished writing, I read through these pages once more. I wrote so much today! And just like my thoughts I was going back and forth in it, pondering about what to do.

I needed to decide quickly before the clock took my decision away from me.

The only thing knew was that I would do everything to make it a success, but what exactly was the road to success?

Aaaah, this was sooooo overwhelming!

Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough and yet it wasn't allowed to come before I was ready to engage it.

* * *

Hachiman PoV

Despite all my thinking I slept surprisingly fine. Exhaustion might have had its fair share in me falling asleep quickly. Today was a day to relax though. No dates, no supplementary class.

Just school, reading a book in the club room while being served some tea.

This was the third best possible day. It could only be topped by being together with my sister or a weekend with nothing to care about.

On the topic of my sister. She still made me cook despite stuffing herself with Yukinoshita's leftover food. Komachi had been pestering me non-stop about the dates, while I prepared dinner for the rest of my family all on my own. Don't tell me she was jealous and wanted to have a date with me as well?

Yeah, like that would ever happen. Being with her casually was much better anyway. I was seeing her in her pyjama right now. What kind of date could achieve that?

Well there was one bothersome thing today. Thanks to my sister playing her 'weakened-from-studying' card, she was super lazy and had only bought the minimum ingredients from a nearby shop, meaning I would have to carry more than usual today.

And why had I to walk that far again when she had just used a shop in the near surroundings?

After I had tasted the food and was shown the bill, I couldn't deny mom and Komachi in saying that there was a certain advantage to the shop they did send me to.

Just from going to the grocery store regularly I was turning into a proper househusband.

Yeah~ me!

My future shone so bright it was dazzling. Oh that wasn't my future, it was my sister I was looking at. Even when she shooed me out of the house to go to school she was soooo Komachi while doing it.

I wonder when I'd ran into problems by replacing the word 'cute' with my sister's name.

School went by without a hitch, the teachers and classmates ignored me the whole day, all was well with the world.

Since Yuigahama was still in the weird and long parting ritual with her classmates I went ahead to the club room.

Yukinoshita would be sitting there already, illuminated by the afternoon sun. Alone.

If my classmate took her sweet time going through the whole procedure of social formalities I would be there for a while with her. Alone.

Would she make yesterday's date a topic or be her usual self inside the club room and quietly read her book?

The anticipation made me nervous. What if we started talking again and Yuigahama would overhear it while trying to open the door. Thanks to Isshiki I knew that it wasn't safe to talk in there. At least not if you valued the spoken words to stay private.

I figured if I were to act normal then she would to.

So I flung the door open and greeted her as usual.

"Sup?"

Caught by surprise she quickly sat straighter than she already was. She failed to do any direct eye contact with me, despite her trying. But each time my face came into her view, she glanced away again.

My initial vigour that had thrown the door open was gone and I stood rooted on the spot.

We both took our time to breath and count to three.

Yukinoshita brushed her hair upwards and smiled softly and finally responded to my greeting.

"Hello." She looked behind me. "Isn't Yuigahama with you?"

"Nah, she-" I was hit by an elephant hunting after a peanut. It was a miracle that I didn't fly through the club room. I could only thank my iron will and my firm stance in life and on earth for that. Or because the push was much lighter than I thought it was.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Said the culprit of this ambush. "Hikki I can't believe you left me behind!"

"It looked like you said goodbye to half of the school."

"Gosh, it was just Miura and the others."

"A lot of others I might add."

"Eh? Hina, Tobecchi, Hayato, Yamato and Oota. So just 5."

I tilted my head, wasn't that what I was just saying? In response Yuigahama did the same as I did. Looks like we couldn't comprehend the other.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, two people at once are his limit after all these years as outcast of the society." Yukinoshita chimed in with a not so friendly remark. The one who just said not to go hard on me, hit me the hardest.

I wanted to follow up with a clever comeback but when our eyes met, all we could do is look away.

"Did something happen yesterday?" Gahama-chan's mood detector reacted right away.

She wasn't the only one with such an inbuild device, I had one for recognising dangerous trick questions too. It had just not been the most reliable in the past. This time it was too obvious to be oblivious.

If I said that nothing happened I would talk down anything of yesterday's date and Yukinoshita might end up being hurt. On the other hand if I declared that something did happen, I might cause my classmate's imagination to run wild and cause very problematic misunderstandings.

"Mhh that 'something' sounds an awful lot like the unspecific 'everyone'. I have no idea what you mean if you're that vague." Seriously, did she catch Miuraism? Or was Yuigahama the one spreading this infection? I moved to my usual chair to be on the safe side and to avoid the question altogether.

I took out my book and began to read which marked the end of the conversation.

"Well, I mean – you've been waiting before." She said before taking her seat close to the club president.

"True, but today it felt like it would go on for an eternity with all the chatter, laughter and waving goodbyes in a never-ending loop. We're in school and not in Versailles."

"Vers-huh?"

"Versailles is a palace in France where the royal family used to reside. He is referring to the overly ritualised behaviour of nobility of that time." I gave Yukipedia a confirming nod before I could turn my attention back to my book, I noticed how Yuigahama started to get all cuddly with the club president.

"Hehehe, Hikki called me a princess."

"That's no-"

Yukinoshita, who was patting the excitingly snuggling club member's head, gave me a warning glare not to finish my correction. Was she her mother or something? Well if they were all fine with how the conversation ended, I wouldn't mind it either. I left the fantasising classmate in Yukinoshita's care and continued to read.

Her state of trance in ecstasy didn't last long though.

"Ah! We need to decide on who gets the next date!" I wish it would have lasted longer. It's not that I didn't want to go again, but some rest in-between would be nice.

"Regarding that, how about some free time for us all to recharge?" What a sensible suggestion I made.

"Shouldn't we wait for Isshiki-san before we do that?" Oh yes, that was a good excuse, Yukinoshita was so reliable.

"Let's wait for her, I really think we shouldn't rush this." I supported that notion fully.

"Nah, no need to, she got Hikki first the last time. Can't be first two times in a row." Yuigahama crushed our combined effort.

"Uhm, I went with that Hikki guy on the first date too, I should sit out the next time as well." Necessity made me creative.

"I see, you want to even out the distribution. Then for the next Saturday it would be either you or me…" I started to get the feeling, that I was somehow left out of the conversation as Yukinoshita ignored me completely.

"Uhm, hello? Anyone listening to me?" Wasn't this all about me?

"Yukinon, you didn't go on a weekend yet, it would only be fair for you to go first." My classmate was the same as the club president.

"But then I would have gone on two consecutive time slots, is this really a fair?" Since they didn't care about my input I shifted my attention back to my book.

"Mhhh but we can't let you go last again… ah! If I go on Saturday and you and Sunday, the problem would be solved!" Hey that's against the rules! I heard something horrible, I couldn't leave the issue to them any longer.

The only thing that would be solved by this was my free time. Solved into such a low concentration that no visible trace would be left behind.

"Won't that be a bit too much for him?" Yukinoshita was quicker than me, but surprisingly she made another good point. Perhaps I could trust them with this after all.

"No way, he'll be fine." Yuigahama was ruthless and upon seeing my shocked face they started to giggle.

What should I do to prevent these snickering hyaena from devouring the cadaver of my free time completely?

Two bangs echoed suddenly through the room. Divine judgement was about to rain on these two!  
For that to happen the bangs were actually way too quiet and sounded more like some knocking on our door. Whatever, it made the president and the only member who had applied willingly shut up about stealing my relaxation time from me.

The girls had stopped their talk and were looking surprised at the door just like me.

Come to think of it we didn't have a request from outside since the Valentine's Day event. I was so fixated on getting a break from the busy times that I had forgotten that we were actually a proper club with club activities.

The Club president seemed to be the first to remember this too.

Yukinoshita peeled off Yuigahama from herself, flicked her hair and restored the unorderly school uniform into the state it was before she got jumped at by my classmate.

"Come in."

Who was that angel that saved me? It better wasn't Isshiki as she would make the situation even worse.

The door was pushed open and a blonde with high specs entered the club room. Not the slightest bit hesitating, the blonde walked to the middle of the room and came to a hold in front of the three of us.

A regular that wasn't the student council president, so I was safe on that front. This classmate of mine wasn't known for the easy type of requests though. Was there trouble in Yuigahama's group? She hadn't mention anything and based on the volume of the buzz the group had created today in class I thought that everything was fine.

Anyway, the appearance was a pain in the butt, a front I wasn't save at all on, according to the hardcore fujoshi Ebina.

"Hi there." Hayama flashed a smile straight out of a Hollywood movie as he greeted us. [9]

Since he didn't say my name I wasn't obliged to respond, Yukinoshita might have had similar thoughts.

"Uhm, hello, although we have just parted…" Yuigahama took it upon herself to return the greeting, unable to bear the silence.

I didn't even want to know why he was here. This was way different from the first time this guy came to our club for help. At that time I was honestly interested on what kind of problems such a gifted and popular individual could have, but not anymore. I left it for someone else to ask why he was here this time. It didn't feel right to do so anyway after we had confirmed our mutual hate for each other. Him talking to me after the marathon was either to escape the girls or to keep up his social image in front of others. It had nothing to do with me anymore and I was fine with that.

Come to think of it, it was quite surprising that I still went along with his scheme. If I pursued genuineness in my relationships, shouldn't I do that for hate as well?

Nah, I better not go there. That way just led into a darkness you often can find the failed loners in. Those who weren't content with them being a loner.

"What are you here for Hayama-kun?" Either because of the role as the club president or because she wanted him out as quick as possible, she asked him for his business with us. One would think that the relationship of these old childhood friends had normalised over the school year with all the shared activities.

Maybe I projected my own feelings too much on Yukinoshita's question. In fact, her tone wasn't as icy as it used to be. Yukinoshita has soften a lot over this year. She probably didn't think like me at all in regards to Hayama.

Well, not being told that the other person hated you was helpful in getting closer.

On the other hand, didn't Yukinoshita told Miura that she hated her, and now they were all sister-buddies. Not really, but at least they stopped picking up the forks when seeing each other.

But if either way was fine, then what was the problem I had with Hayama that made me feel so uneasy? Were my grudges not justified? I decided to leave my aversion out of club matters until I understood it better.

"I came here to request your help."

"Oh, who would have thought." I snarled at him in reply. Yuigahama threw one of the cookies, which the club president brought along from time to time., at my head. Urgh, keeping the animosity low sure was hard.

Hayama ignored the hostility in my tone with his smile and just continued to explain the situation.

"My bad, I phrased that incorrectly. Today, I'm here as the president of the soccer club."

"Huh? If you expect me to play soccer or anything, I'm sorry. Ever since I received a hairline fracture in my left foot, that career path was closed for good." [10]

"I have to agree with Hikigaya-kun being utterly useless to help out the soccer club. It's a team sport after all." Even if it was true, she didn't have to be so harsh about it.

"Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't be totally useless! Like, uhm, he could hand out the water or something." Yuigahama's pity did hurt even more than Yukinoshita's insult though…

"We have no need for him in that way." The final nail in the coffin of my debut as soccer player came from Hayama.

If he didn't need my help in the first place, then why was he here? Asking the girls to be cheerleaders? That… could be a request worth listening to.

"There is an important soccer tournament coming up, but it's on the verge getting cancelled."

"That's the first time I hear about it. Did Isshiki come to seek help from us?" I asked Yukinoshita about the issue. Could it be that she was here while Yuigahama and I were stuck in going to the supplementary lessons?

"No, she only came for some tea but never stayed long." Her expression became rather gloomy as she answered me. Ah, I can totally see Isshiki feeling uncomfortable in a room with just our club president present. Yukinoshita probably felt sad about Isshiki leaving her alone quickly when Yuigahama and I weren't there.

Just starting a conversation between these two seemed hard, but keeping it going was nearly impossible. They were pretty much aliens to the other's interests.

On top of it Isshiki wasn't exactly the type to remain silent unless she was fiddling with her phone, while this was one of Yukinoshita's trademarks. They couldn't stay in silence together nor was there any conversation going on.  
This description made Isshiki sound an awful lot like Yuigahama, but contrary to the student council president she had no issues with Yukinoshita. I read once that your social environment was largely predetermined by your fiscal background.

But this didn't add up either. Yukinoshita was a rich girl and Yuigahama a normal one. That gap was so big that Isshiki's couldn't be significantly bigger. So was that claim wrong? I have to analyse it further based on things I knew for sure.

I looked closely at the assets of the girls again. Plentiful and non-existent. Bouncy and flat. I'd say that the difference between Yukinoshita and Yuigahama was larger by a huge amount compared to the one between the two presidents.

Huh, how did Yuigahama end up as the richest girl of the three of them?

My private math studying still had a long way to go.

"The student council is not involved this year. At least officially. This annual tournament is held between three high-schools and three middle schools and the duty to organise it changes each year."

"This seems like a big event with so many people involved." Yuigahama remarked.

"That's true. It's big enough to attract scouts from universities, amateur and sometimes professional soccer clubs. This is often the biggest opportunity for club members to pursuit a career in this sport." Giving an approving nod to Yuigahama, Hayama continued to explain the nature of the event to us.

"An event of this size should have a professional organisation committee to plan it. If the problem is too big for it to manage, I'm not sure of how much help we could be." Yukinoshita voiced a doubt I had as well.

"The tournament was originally organised by students just to compete with each other. The public attention increased, but it is still a normal school event and thus is still organised by the students."

"Okay, so we are allowed to help it seems, but what exactly is the problem?" I wanted him to finally spill the beans about what he wants from us. These riajuu's like talking way too much.

"I haven't said this yet, did I? For reasons unknown to me one of the High school teams withdrew from the tournament. This happens sometimes, and the organisers would just ask a different school to participate. However, this year the host team was the one that suddenly withdrew from the tournament. And this is where it gets complicated."

"Huh, why is that?" That question could have been mine, but instead of me it was Yuigahama who was asking.

"It's a school event, there should be a rule within the regulations that demands the participation by your own school." Yukinoshita knew its implication, it's good that she was so reliable at times.

"This is correct. If the club isn't participating, the tournament cannot be held there. And even further, the student council is prohibited to continue organising this event as long as their own club is refusing to take part in it. At the same time student councils from other schools aren't allowed to execute any formal activities on their school ground to bridge the time till a solution is found."

"Why don't you just change the location then?" I suggested.

"I don't know the exact current state of the planning, but I guess it's too late to redo the whole organisation from scratch. The other schools have to agree, a new school would have to be found, the sponsors need to be informed and the deals with the suppliers for food and equipment would have to be renegotiated and many things more. There is just not much time left."

Oh great, a deadline. These things are just keep popping up.

"When is the tournament taking place?" Like during most of the requests we get, Yukinoshita was the one gathering the necessary information.

"On the 14th and 15th of march." He replied.

Err, when was this? Which date was today again? Let's see Komachi's birthday plus…

"This makes it the weekend after this one."

I totally had the same result as the as the honour student.

This problem seemed to go beyond the usual scope. If we failed the sponsors would demand their money back while the contractors would insist on keeping it. Then there is also the issue with students losing their career perspectives.

A mere student shouldn't have to shoulder the responsibility of all this.

"Will you help us?" He looked at us three without any sign of nervousness. Was he that confident that we will accept any request? That bothered smile of his bothered me more than usual.

"Since it concerns the students from our school…"

"This sounds so terrible, of course we will!"

He had convinced both of them already with drawings his horror picture, but I won't fall so easily.

"Wait a moment. I can't agree to this yet." My agreement wasn't actually necessary, as it obliged the club president to decide on these matters. But Yukinoshita was the type to listen to other people's opinions though, which gave me some power in this decision making. "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Didn't you listen Hikki? We're supposed to make the event happen!"

"Ah no, I got that part, but it's only the result. He didn't say anything about the tasks at hand we should help the soccer team's players with."

"Actually, I'm not too sure on that myself yet. I was contacted yesterday by someone from their student council who informed me about the soccer team not having the intention to play the tournament and how it stopped the student council from working on the event." That explained why he was so unclear in his request compared to the other times where he had been always very specific in what he wanted from us.

"In principle it is just taking over the workload from the organisation committee and bring it back on a manageable schedule, whether it is to hold the event there or somewhere else." This was my conclusion of the task.

"That sounds about right. But like I said, I don't know-"

"Then we shouldn't do it." I declared, cutting his words short.

Hayama's face hardened like stone and his smile vanished for once from his high-spec face. My clubmates appeared to be shocked by my decision. I better explain myself quickly before they could voice an objection.

"We're not some cheap labour force that can be called on every time whenever there is unfinished business. Our club is there to provide help for self-improvement and I don't see that here. Or will the players be involved in the governmental tasks?"

"No, we won't be able to help out as we need to train daily. It's extremely rare for a player to be scouted, but we have quite a few talented players this year. I want that at least one of them to make it."

"If manpower is all you need, a popular guy like you should have no problem recruiting the necessary amount of people."

"I asked Iroha and she promised to bring the rest of the student council along tomorrow."

"That's clearly her abusing her power." Those other members were surely forced by her. Sometimes I felt like Isshiki worked on establishing a tyrannous regime and I would be responsible for that too.

"She can't act as the student council president over there though and will be only a simple volunteer." He totally ignored her evildoings as long as she would work for his goal. "Hina and Yumiko will help out as well."

No surprise there too. Miura was a lost case from the start. She would have probably skipped school entirely to run by his side. But wasn't there someone missing?

"Only girls?"

"Yamato and Ooka are bound by their cub activities. Sport clubs are very busy once the exams are over."

So that's how it was, normal clubs at their seasonal peak times.

"Aren't those enough?"

"Iroha isn't allowed to run the committee and Hina and Yumiko have no experience in leading one."

"Weren't they in charge of the project from Class 2-F during the Cultural Festival?"

"Hikki, don't mention our class as if you aren't part of it." Her puppy eyes looked so sad, it nearly made me apologise.

"Well, I was within the committee during that time…" And thus not part of it.

"And that's why your help is needed. Yukinoshita-san's would be invaluable too. Yui, you assisted Iroha during the Christmas event as well right? I'd be glad if you helped us too."

Even though he basically repeated himself with different words about wanting our help, if he addressed us directly I did get kind of flustered. Like that would make me happy you idiot~ [11] Wah, he nearly got me there.

I had to stay strong.

"The fact remains that we are doing nothing to evoke self-improvement in the players."

"Don't be like that Hikki, they really need us…" Yuigahama was a very emotional human, she would act just according to her feelings. I didn't think I could win her over.

"Yukinoshita, you know that this request, which can't even be formulated properly into words, is not part of the services Hiratsuka-sensei had in mind."

"That... that is true, but..." She was visibly uncomfortable playing with the end of her blazer's arm. She wasn't on my side either huh. Now I was starting to feel like a heartless villain.

But what I stated where the principles of our club, the same ones everyone acknowledged when we bought Komachi's presents.

"I don't see a reason to 'but' here. Our rules are pretty clear."

Both the girls stayed silent, the only sigh I heard was from Hayama.

"I'm sorry, my request came a bit sudden and you need more time to decide on it, even though we don't have much of it. I'll come back tomorrow to hear the final decision. "

He looked straight into my eyes with a look I knew all too well. It's the same one I received from Meguri-senpai when I failed to meet her expectation.

But I didn't back down. He could return as often as he wanted, I won't change my decision.

After he left, I finally had the silence to read my book, but I didn't have the peace of mind to do it.

Both girls were restlessly switching their postures. It was obvious they wanted to say something but refrained from doing so. Wasn't this a good sign though? It meant that logically I was right and had nothing to do with my feelings towards Hayama, otherwise they would have spoken. The head was right, it was just a bit tough on the heart. On mine too. I let out a deep sigh.

"Hikki?" It was Yuigahama who had the courage to break the silence. "You've been sighing a lot."

"I did?" Honestly, I had not noticed that.

"Is it about refusing Hayato's request?"

"It's not too late to reconsider. To be honest, I was shocked that you didn't want to help. When you…" Yukinoshita didn't finish her sentence. She didn't need to anyway to know that I wasn't meeting her image of mine.

"It's not that I don't want to help the students…"

"Then why?"

"I just can't stand the way the club is being treated." Yuigahama an Yukinoshita had nothing to say after that and the uneasy silence returned.

That was how I truly felt and this was probably the problem I had with Hayama too.

The way he treated people.

He cared for them, but he also used them without their knowledge. Mostly in their interest too, but also his own. It was so complicated that I could hardly put my finger on it being selfish or selfless. What made it all the more frustrating was, that I didn't know whether there was much of a difference between him and me. There had to be, I just needed to think more.

I didn't finish a single page this afternoon. This wasn't how I imagined the first club meeting in a while to be.

* * *

When I stood in the supermarket, I still lacked an answer. The amount of questions had increased though.

My shopping bag was filled to the brim with the things Komachi had written on her list, yet I was still alone.

There was no sign of Miura, neither physically nor as message on the phone.

Was this some kind of payback for missing out the last two days or did she just complete the proverb 'three times is a charm'?

The day was straying more and more from the one I expected it to be.

Were the two days without me so much better that I was cast aside? _She shouldn't need to go out of her way just to avoid me in that case._

Ouch, that line of thought really hurt this time, I was unable to laugh it off.

Because of the request I felt so gloomy that I had this thought.

Because I considered Miura a friend, it hurt.

She herself said I was one, but then was friendship just this fragile?

I refused to believe that. But was that optimism or just an excuse?

My thoughts would head towards a full-fledged depression if I wasn't careful. I shook my head, but it didn't help with getting rid of my dark mood.  
Graaaah! I yelled inside my head, but this didn't clear my mind either. I didn't want to feel so down on a day that was supposed to be full of sunshine and rest. Everything was fine yesterday, why couldn't this just continue?

I stepped out of the grocery store as it was pointless to wait any longer.  
Not to mention that the middle-aged staff member had started to observe me again. Maybe I should switch my career coals to working here. Apparently, the workers had quite a bit of free time while they were supposed to be on duty.  
Oh? Was a change of scenery all I needed to have a more light-hearted thought? If only that was the case.

I couldn't deny that the refreshing breezes felt good as they cooled down my head. Getting worked up over this seemed stupid now. So what if she missed one joint shopping? There could be a million reasons for that. It was not like she needed to inform me either as we had never agreed to meet us daily. We had no obligations towards each other.

Those things were reserved for couples.

Unless she put a ring on my finger, I was free as a bird.

Ahhh~ The breezes were truly a bliss.

I went around the corner into the residential area.

There she was standing with her hands on her hips like the pilot of Unit 02, making her presence known. Her face looked as stern as Asuka's too. [12]

'Now it's over' was my first thought.

"Hayato went to see you guys." Was the first thing she said.

That guy, first Haruno now Miura. [13] He really likes to use other people to do his work.

But this was kind of good too, now I had my answer how we differed. I was doing everything myself. I couldn't blame anyone else when I failed, I didn't need anyone to clean up my mess.

This way I could always live with the result.

"Did he send you to change my mind?"

"Hayato only told me what happened. Coming here was my own decision." Telling her, was the same as actively sending her for Hayama. He was well aware of her feelings for him and what she would do to support him. What she called friendship was no match against that feeling of love. It would stand no chance in a direct confrontation.

"You're a bit late then." I raised my arm with the full bag, it was almost like I mocked her as I fully knew that she wasn't here for that.

"I'm not here for shopping. Well, I am, but not now. First I have to deal with you." The confirmation. My feeling was right, the relationship we had would be over soon.

"Then you're here to make me change my mind after all." Bring it on, I was ready. That's what my head said, but my stomach felt like it was only ready to throw up.

"I'm not here to convince you helping Hayato." She shook her head and came closer.

Huh? What the hell was she here for then? My face was plastered with question marks.

When she came to a halt, her face was only a good 40 centimetre away.

"I'm here to force you into helping Hayato." How intimidating, if she didn't block the path to my home I would have probably run away.

"You're going to beat me up?" I asked.

"Come to school in one hour with your sports gear."

"Who in their right mind would come to their own beating?" Was she an idiot or something?

"Stop saying that I will hit you! Geez, makes me sound like some delinquent." It was the first time her expression had a little crack. "I challenge you to a tennis match. If you lose, you'll help Hayato, got it?"

"Tennis? But you were on the prefectural team…" This was just as unfair as her beating me up in a straight brawler battle.

"I know, but I can't afford to lose. I'll do everything for victory."

Gosh, her determination in competitions rivalled that of Yukinoshita.

But I had no intention of losing either.

"Whatever, I'll be there."

No matter how unfair her advantage was as a pro, outsourcing the confrontation to a sport contest might actually be the best choice to settle this. If she was able to accept her defeat, than we could still be friends.

She went on to pass me in the direction of the supermarket, but three steps behind me her feet came to a halt.

"Hey, why didn't you just help him?"

The voice was soft, but it carried a familiar disappointment in it. I was lucky that I didn't get to see the related face right now.

"His request had nothing to do with the reason of our club."

"But aren't you friends?"

"Friends with him?" My volume went up and I had trouble not to sound to sarcastic. I continued in the most composed tone as possible afterwards. "No, we're far from being friends."

"But you-"

""I'll see you at the court. You better not take me lightly, I'm just as determined as you to win." I interrupted Miura and left her behind. Nothing good would come from explaining my relationship with Hayama now. We had already decided on a method to clear the situation up.

How well each person could live with the result was yet to be seen.

At home I left the shopping bag in the kitchen and switched into my battle armour of the thousand layers. Underwear, short and long-sleeved sports attires. I didn't want to catch a cold after all.  
With my stealth mode activated I avoided Komachi's awareness. Her tears when she said goodbye to her brother as he left for battle would have been too much.

Especially to a battle that I was most likely to lose. Just how did I hope to win against Miura in tennis? I didn't have enough trick shots for a fair match and even the two I had, were unavailable to me as I had no idea about how the wind blew at this hour.

I should have at least insisted on a different sport. There was nothing left from my earlier confidence. The only thing that kept me from total despair were my table-tennis skills.

* * *

To my surprise the school gates were closed. Well I shouldn't be really surprised about it, this was normal after all. But I was very confused about why we met up here if the school was off-limits anyway. A trap? Where were the delinquents hiding to beat me up?

My sensitive ears picked up a noise from behind!

"Who's there!? I have 8000 followers here!" [14] I jumped around in fright and saw a shadow. Because of the setting sun I could only see it was a human beyond the gate, but I couldn't make out who it was.

"You have that many? Try a better lie next time. Come over here." It was definitely Miura's voice, but she didn't sound amused by my exaggeration. So she was still in her super serious Asuka-mode huh?

"Uhm, how did you get there?"

"Just climb over it."

"Is it a good idea though? Isn't there something like a guard here?"

"If there is, I've never seen one."

I climbed over the gate as I was told.

"So you trespassed several times here already?" The youth of today seemed really that bad as the news said.

"No." She replied dryly.

"Then how do you know that there isn't any guard here?" Was she spying around here before then?

"I don't know, but if I told you the truth you wouldn't have climbed. You're such scaredy-cat."

"Excuse me for not being a criminal… and good-bye." I turned around immediately to climb back to the street-side of the school gate.

"You're staying here! Or are you forfeiting the match?" She said in a provoking tone.

"Like this would be enough to make help that guy by default." I followed behind her. She lead me on the edge of the school grounds all the way around to the tennis courts.

The lights were on. If there really was a watchman, he would spot us in no time. If he took his job seriously that was and wasn't sleeping soundly somewhere.

With enough light I finally realised that Miura wore the same kind of outfit as during our match in summer.

I had my short sportswear on me too, but that was underneath the long-sleeved suit!

"Will you be fine with these clothes?" I asked her.

"Of course. It might be cold now, but once the match has started you'll warm up quickly. And it's easier to move in a short outfit too."

"Well if you say so…" The truth was probably more along the line that this was part of doing 'everything' for victory. As if the long legs weren't already enough of a distraction. If I couldn't focus during the match because of some flattery skirt it would be even more troublesome than it already was.

Miura was as unmoving as her skirt, so I figured I had to go to the other side of the field. I picked up a racket from the ground and got into position.

When I stood still she asked: "Ready?"

"Huh?"

As if she took my sound for a confirmation, she served. Ace.

I didn't even flinch.

"Uhm, what about warm-up?" I asked humbly.

"We don't need to do that. Tennis matches are long enough as is."

Now that I thought about it, she wasn't bothered by the breezes one bit. Well Miura mostly seemed like the temperatures didn't bother her, but at least she wore a jacket during the cold times. Now she was just in a regular tennis outfit. Wasn't she on the school grounds first too? I thought she had just prepared the equipment.

"Did you…?"

"I told I would do everything for victory."

Her second serve. I missed it by a good metre.

Yepp, she definitely warmed up before. I scowled at her and went back into my position.

I was behind with 0-30 already. Why the heck didn't tennis player just count normally? 0-2 wouldn't have sound so hopelessly.

On the next serve I would put all my effort into running. I couldn't allow the Aces to continue. Experiencing success was of utmost important before the lead got so big that I would just get unmotivated.

My planned dash felt so slow and when I swung the racket, I felt a slight resistance. Was I playing underwater or what?

Even with my best effort I missed her serve by 10 centimetres.

Miura stayed as focus as on the first serve, her face stone-hard. She won't go easy on me for even a single ball. I was in huge trouble.

Fourth serve, which had more in common with a bullet than ball, ended in the same result as on the third one. I lost the first game so quickly!

"You're playing awful today." So frank.

"What did you expect? It's been ages since our last tennis lesson in summer." Give me a break. It's not like I didn't want to play better.

"That's a pretty lame excuse, I haven't played since then either."

"Comparing the hiatus of a pro with that of a beginner, how ridiculous."

"What do you mean with beginner?"

"Isn't it pretty much self-explanatory? I had not held a tennis racket in my hands before those sport lessons."

"But during our match you played like…" Thanks to the illumination I saw how her face softened up for real. Confusion was written all over it.

She did mistake my skill level based on that match? I had been barely part of it. Hayama and her had mostly played with the girls and avoided me. So that was because they found Yuigahama and a drained Yukinoshita to be the easier target and didn't do so because they ignored my existence? They were such good people. But this was not the time to get emotional.

"Knowing that now changes nothing though. You'll play for win just like me. I say it again, don't underestimate me. Once I get the hang of it again, you'll be toast."

My provocation worked wonders. A mocking smile which showed how confident she was in her supremacy made its way on her face. If it hadn't meant more trouble for me, I would have enjoyed looking it much longer.

"I'll end the match before you'll do." She announced.

Yes, there was no need for her pity. I was going to crush her at her strongest sport against all odds and make her realise how much I didn't want to help Hayama.

From the few things I remembered about tennis, I knew it was my time to serve now.

I picked up one of the balls that the fence had stopped from behind me and made my move.

I had envisioned my moving to be more graceful than it actually ended up to. Again, there was this resistance in my arm and I hit the net. Foul. Urgh.

There really was truth to her words, but for it to have this much of an effect surprised me. But if I didn't do anything I would lose, that was for sure.

I started to strip in front of Miura.

She showed no reaction, how painful for a boy's heart. Well, it was just one layer after all.

As I stood there in my short-sleeved attire a breeze came by and took my composure with me.

Brrrr~ How cold! Instantaneously I hugged myself.

"This is your limit?" She mocked me.

"It's just one more thing I have yet to get as good at as you."

"Quit the flattery, I won't go any easier on you because of this."

Damn, so the plan of complimenting to ruin her concentration didn't work.

The foul didn't cost me any points as far as I knew, but that only was the case if I didn't make another one. I didn't take any risks with my serve and naturally Miura had no trouble in her return. She made me run quite a bit, but with me being freed of the extra layer of clothes I made my first consecutive play of the day.

With this I could slowly build up my temperature. All I needed now was a strategy and my training with Wall-san to resurface.

Just when I got optimistic, I missed the ball with a whooshing sound.

There was no question that Miura was the vastly better player then me. The way she made me run reminded me on the tale of the hedgehog and the rabbit. After losing the second game I had no more issues with the temperature at least, but I had yet to score a single point.

It was her turn to serve again and remembering how that went in the first game, I felt like skipping forward to game four directly. Three more aces of hers and that notion was confirmed. The Aces alone weren't that frustrating as how I missed those balls. I was so close to hit the ball, yet I couldn't reach it! How would it be possible for me to unleash the necessary power and cross the distance of the last two centimetres?

Mhhh didn't the yellow balls look an awful lot like Hayama's head? If I imagined that hard enough that might even work.

Who wouldn't want to hit that face as hard as possible?

Upon Miura's next serve I dashed like mad to the corner and... returned the ball!

But since I used the power for my running, the swinging of the racket was pretty lacklustre. It flew into the net and rolled over it and landed on her side.

"That, that was a score wasn't it?" I pointed excited at the ball in her field.

"Hmpf, that's something you normally apologise for." Although her lead was huge, she still looked displeased by giving up a point.

"Huh? Why should I? It was all planned! At least hitting the ball was."

"A lucky strike, that's why. But not that it matters, After the next serve it will be 3-0 anyway."

Ah right, there was that. The scoring in this game was so confusing. I had always blamed my bad math for that though when I read the prince of tennis.

True to her words she scored again as my return flew in a direction that was nowhere near her field.

Sigh. At least I was the one to serve in game four.

Compared to running after the ball constantly I felt much more comfortable with serving the ball. Maybe I could actually pay attention to Miura's position instead of just concentrating of getting the ball over the net.

 _Huh? Was she a fool or what?_ To my surprise Miura was occupying just one half of her field. Alright, then I'll just hit the empty half before she realised her blunder.

I gracefully threw the ball into the air and hit it with the racket with just enough force to get it past the net. The ball hopped just like planned onto her side twice.

Time to provoke her with a triumphant grin of mine.

"Ah? What was that supposed to be?"

That wasn't quite the reaction I had imagined, it knocked the wind out of my sails and I began to speak in fragments.

"Uhm, you know, like, a point or something?"

"That's a foul. You have to hit diagonally on the serve, how come you don't know something basic like this?"

Was there such a rule or did she make that up? Prince of Tennis had 42 volumes, how should I remember if there was something like that? Come to think of it, we didn't have any rules taught to us in class either. When Miura had kidnapped Yuigahama to change their clothes, I had agreed with Hayama just on hitting the ball casually and keep track of the points.

"So we're not just hitting the ball back and forth?"

"Huh? That is child's play. For a real match we have to use real rules. It's like only normal to do so."

Well, I guess that made sense.

Luckily, I could redo my serve. Now then… where to hit? Diagonally she said… so I had to hit where she was already standing? Isn't that unfair? When I had to do all the running towards the edge…

Wait a moment!

"Hey! You could have said something when I stood in the wrong place!"

"Why should I help you to win this?"

' _I would do everything for victory'_ She didn't lie with that. Although it would have been more accurate if it were 'I would do everything for the one I love.'

Casting aside everything for love.

Was that amiable or condemnable?

As I was on the losing end of it right now, I tended towards the latter. Damn her. I showed my discontent clearly on my face, but it only made her chuckle.

"Aww, don't be like that. I did thank you for the easy points in my thoughts."

"Yeah, yeah… enjoy your lead as long as it lasts. From here on the match will be way different!"

"Really? The only thing you did so far was talking big."

Tch, so cheeky. What made it worse was that she was right. I had no idea how to follow up my words.

For the moment I still needed to get back on my level from summer. I needed to become Wall-san myself. That style of play was fitting me the most in table tennis at least and how big could the difference to regular tennis be?

I made my serve directly to Miura and she played it long into the corner with her forehand leaving me no chance. The difference in skill was too huge.

If the forehand meant bad news for me, I should aim for her other side.

What a relief that she wasn't a perfect tennis machine. She really wasn't as precise with her backhand and I could play the ball into the empty half of her field.

She rushed towards it and barely got it at the cost of her balance. I showed no mercy and played it back to the original side.

15-15! My first score that I played for intentionally!

Miura didn't say anything, and I didn't provoke her either. I needed to focus entirely on my game to repeat this success.

The next play didn't go quite as planned though. I didn't send Miura's return that good into the corner and she was able to get it without losing her balance. It wasn't the end of the play though. For the first time we had a longer exchange of hits. We both ran after the balls, unwilling to give up this point.

In the end I lost that exchange, but I gained the confidence to keep up with her.

My classmate remained silent, but I could feel that she took this game even more serious now.

There was only one time I had seen her this focused and hard-working. It was when she baked at the Valentine event. If she put the same effort into school, where would she end up?

Nah, that was a pointless question. I had no idea of her current grades to begin with.

Four more lengthy plays and the score changed to 4-0 for her. This score was quite unfair in my opinion. I was about on par in the fourth game and wasn't rewarded a single overall point for it?

It was Miura's turn to serve again, but thanks to fixing my error in my position play, I had no more troubles returning the balls. Another drawn-out game that I only lost after drawing twice. The scoreboard was ruthless though, 5-0.

Should I throw this set and focus on the second one?

No. I remembered myself what it meant to lose. I won't help Hayama with this no matter what.

I kept on playing with great determination and we entered the later stage of the game, at neck and neck again. The taste of my first win was so close!

My opponent's hits were still more accurate than mine and she moved so gracefully. Having to watch ball and opponent made tennis a very difficult sport, especially when the other player drew more attention than the ball just by looking so beautiful. Her body was definitely an area where she put a similar effort into as she did to get Hayama's attention. I had a hunch that these two things weren't unrelated to each other.

I lost the game immediately after getting captured by her appearance and losing my concentration.  
That skirt was an extremely unfair weapon.

A deep breath, eyes closed. I couldn't slack now, I was feeling it. My first win was about to happen soon. If I compared myself to the beginning of match, I improved by a considerable amount. The balls went where I wanted them to go for the most part. I was so far behind in this game that I decided to try something. More, I needed to put in more.

This was probably the only trait I had in which I was superior to Miura.

The game went on and I ended up having the advantage after a draw. I stayed true to my new strategy and hit the ball way harder than before. Naturally my precision went down, but my balls were way faster as a result. Miura had trouble reaching them in time and her returns weren't that well-aimed anymore.

Just like now. She had no time to perform an accurate hit and the ball flew slowly in a huge curve in my direction. Smash!

This, this was my first won game wasn't it?

"YES!" I pumped my fist in joy. The only reaction I got was a strong glare by Miura. We were all alone on the school grounds and thus there was no one I could share my happiness with. What a kill-joy.

I could repeat this feat for a 5-2 score. My Strategy was working, I was getting so excited I couldn't stop grinning.

"I can't believe a beginner is giving me this much trouble." Finally, she broke the silence.

"I'll take that as a compliment you know?" She gritted her teeth so strongly, of course I knew she didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to egg her on.

"Hmpf, If you thought you've won already, you're going to regret it."

"Maybe, although it seems like a total waste to regret something this fun." I hadn't had that many opportunities to play with someone in my life and I enjoyed the moment fully despite the stakes being so high. Must be because of the endorphins produced by all the physical activity.

"Then just don't do it after you've lost." From her tone I could feel that this was her wish and no mockery, but that wish was not going to fulfilled.

"Sorry, but losing here isn't an option."

"No, it's your only option and I will prove it to you."

She sounded way too confident regarding the development in the match. Did she figure something out with her experience or was it just a bluff?

I shook my head, it would just affect me badly if I switched my attention from my game over to her. I wasn't that good of a player to do that. Making a good serve was all I should focus on.

My serve came right back to me like usual and I played it back in turn, but Miura wasn't near the baseline. She had dashed forward and took my ball volley. There was no chance for me to react on that.

She did that several times on the following plays but not always. I couldn't figure out what triggered it and thus how to avoid it. Were my hits not hard enough anymore? It didn't feel like I got weaker already.

It was frustrating that she seemed to have found an easy counter to me.

I lost the game and the first set.

Her confidence was fully restored and I had not much to hope for.

Was I wrong not to just skip to the second set before?

It was time to switch sides and when we passed each other she suggested me to forfeit.

"We could just play for fun if you give up now you know?" Her voice was so soft, it was most likely an honest offer to end the confrontation.

"You'll do everything for victory? Fine. I'll do everything not to allow him to ridicule my club." The thing with principles were that they couldn't be negotiated. My reply seemed a bit too harsh though. The real conflict was just between Hayama and me, Miura was more like a victim of it. Even if we stood on different sides, she was still my friend. I wanted to show her the same softness and care her offer contained. "I'd like to play with you for fun, some day in the future. So don't go easy on me now or I'll be too bored to do so."

The back of my head was hit lightly with the net of her racket.

Did this gesture mean 'idiot' or 'thank you'?

"Thanks, you fool."

It was both? Well good to know. Miura speaking her mind had some benefits to it. At least I didn't have to be concerned about her taking my response too hard.

The game continued and if my classmate did go easier on me, I didn't notice it. Her strategy was still successful and I without an answer. Two games later and I was behind by two points. Oh great. Maybe I should have begged for going easy on me instead of playing it tough?

At least I wasn't swept like in the beginning of the match. But if this kept on, I was sure to lose. Should I change my strategy from forceful strikes in favour for hits with more precision again? As I kept pondering about it, I noticed that Miura's sprints away from the baseline got fewer without any obvious reason. As a result of that I was able to win a game again.

2-1. So weird.

I decided against the change with the momentum being on my side again. 2-2. 3-2- 3-3.

The longer the game went on the easier it seemed to get to score for me.

After the seventh game in the second set it was 3-4 for me. I looked intensively at my opponent. She was breathing heavily. I let my gaze wander around and saw that it has gotten completely dark. I had not noticed this because of the lamps that had enlightened the court.

Just how long have we been playing already?

Now that I thought about it, my classmate had not the greatest endurance. It was one of the many impressions that stayed with me from the trip to Destiny Land. Even Isshiki surpassed her in that area. Pretty impressive for such a small girl. Miura would still beat Yukinoshita by miles though.

But this was the chance for victory! I needed to capitalise on it before she recovered.

Two games later I really managed to win the second set.

The last set was about to begin and we had to switch sides again. When I saw her downcast expression and the dropped shoulders, I wanted to cheer her up by just a bit.

"Miura…" But wouldn't that just mock her efforts? I couldn't say more than her name.

"Speak up if you want to say something."

"The one I'm defeating here won't be you but Hayama."

"Ah? You're not defeating anyone today." Her mouth still had some fighting spirit left in it and this made me smile. A strong personality like hers would be able to endure a loss here.

Yes, I didn't need to feel bad about not going easy on her.

I wanted to end it quickly, but in the middle of the first game of the last set I felt a small pain in my arm. The strong hits with the rackets have built up a strain on my muscles. I still won the first game with relatively little problems, but at the thought of all the games that I had yet to play I shuddered.

I couldn't hit as hard anymore and my classmate was able to prolong the exchanges, which didn't do both of us any good. My arm hurt, Miura was wheezing and I too was starting to gasp for air.

The blonde didn't fail to notice my condition as she had been watching me just as closely as I did her. If she had resigned at any point after the second set, that feeling of hopelessness was surely gone. The match was now played on an even level.

The simple errors increased rapidly on both sides.

1-1, 1-2, 2-2.

We dashed after every ball as if it was a match ball. We paid no attention to our bodies, which were about to reach their limit.

My lungs burned. My muscles ached. My heart was beating like crazy.

I was sure that it was the same for my opponent. We were purely fuelling our movements with our determination to win.

But that was not the only _thing_ we had in common.

I only noticed that _thing_ because we had both abandoned our normal positional play completely at this point and were standing way closer to the net. We just couldn't hit the ball far enough anymore to go past the base line without the ball bumping twice on the field before anyway.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead as the drops threatened to blurry my vision.

It was still there. Her joyous smile.

Despite all the pain and the stakes, we played with smiles on our faces. Did adrenalin have such an effect?

3-2, 3-3, 3-4.

I hit an incoming ball, the direction it took was nowhere anything I had planned for it though. It took quite the curve towards the side line. Miura's surprise was as great as mine as it looked like it would still hit the ground before going out. She dived after it but failed to reach the ball.

Clouds of dust from our movements, diving after balls, slumping down to catch some breath for the next play. Our skin and clothes have gotten dark from all the dirt.

We still did everything to win, but the severity of our minds from before was gone. Had the lack of oxygen make us light-headed? The current situation was more like light-hearted though.

She had trouble getting back on her feet again.

"Taking a nap?" Mockery.

"I must have fallen asleep watching your slow motions." Jokes.

"I didn't know I was capable of using hypnosis. _You want to give up now._ " Fooling around.

At some point during the third set this had become a big part of our match. It was as if we replaced the actions we weren't able to take anymore with words.

"Like that would work. You must be, like, really desperate to try such bogus stuff."

"Huh? But I'm winning. It's four to three for me."

"Ah? But it's 40-30 for me."

True. Scoring in tennis was so weird.

If she scored one more time, all the effort of this game would have been in vain.

I had to prevent this at all costs.

She served.

"Just"

I returned the ball directly to her forehand and she played it back to me.

"give"

My legs moved automatically in the direction of the ball and send it back to her.

"up" She played it to the other side of my field.

The muscles ached, but I did it somehow.

"already" With every hit she made, she said another word as if she had to catch her breath just for speaking.

A play directly to me, my body rejoiced knowing it could rest for once and still hit the ball.

My return wasn't any more precise than hers and she made me run to the other side again.

"and"

I was fighting for fresh air to fill my lungs cursing myself for the sloppy play. The return was only possible because her balls lacked the speed of the beginning.

"help"

Another accurate play be her and I had to dash all the way back once more. I made it but lost my balance.

Oh no! My ball took a weak curve directly to Miura. My field was completely exposed as I was kneeing at the side line.

She raised her racket over her head in anticipation to hit the ball with full force.

The ex-tennis player prepared for a smash to end the game and tie the set and match.

As if to mock me over all the energy I wasted in this game, time stopped. I couldn't take my eyes off Miura as image of hers imprinted itself into my mind.

The golden hair floated in the air, the dirt-covered skirt fluttered, the shirt that was glued to her body lines from all the sweat, every muscle she flexed to transfer all her power into the ball and her big green eyes burned with such passion that it blinded me.

I probably could have redrawn it with every little detail from memory alone with closed eyes and give it to a museum where it would belong.

"Hayato-oh?!"

Oh? Instead of hearing the matrix of strings for the thousandth time there was just a thud.

The frame. She hit the ball only with the frame!

Despite my protesting body I got up again.

The ball took a huge curve near the net and landed on my side.

"Only over my dead body!" I screamed and rushed towards the side-line near the net.

The ball was slow and bumped up high again, but I wouldn't make it just by running. My legs were at their limits, but if I dived, I might make it!

Ignoring all the pain I jumped towards the ball.

"Stop!" I heard her yelling, but I ignored her plea. I already decided not to show her any mercy.

The racket connected! I made it. Would the ball land on her side?

My head slid past the post just by centimetres and filled my whole vision. Huh? Where did that came from? I was shocked by how close it was, but as my body slipped further it was gone from my sight again. How lucky I thought, before a dull sound reached my ears.

An overwhelming pain erupted from my knee and shook my whole body in waves and my eyes were filled with tears immediately.

Did I let out scream upon the contact? Probably.

I held my knee and buried my head into the sand. But there was no escape from the pain, it even seemed to echo in my ears. I grit my teeth to prevent any further screams of agony and the sand from entering my mouth.

A damped voice spoke to me and I felt a hand placed on my arms.

It was probably Miura who wanted to know if I was alright, but I couldn't respond. My face was hidden in the sand after and it absorbed all the tears.

The stabbing pain retreated to its local epicentre quickly within a minute or two.

Fortunate for me it was just the initial shock that hurt so much.

I sat up, supported by my worried classmate. Not before I wiped the mud made of sand and tears from my face though. I didn't want her to see me so pitiful like this.

She was a very caring person, no way she could finish the match properly if she took pity on me.

"Err, it's probably against the rules for you to be on this side." I tried to say it nonchalantly, but my voice was nasal from the crying.

"You're okay?" She lost her respect for the rules, those teenagers of today. How troublesome.

"Yes, I'm fine. Was it my point?" I tried to shift the attention back to the game but she was still looking at me concerned.

"Really?"

"Totally fine. Now let me stand."

Reluctantly she removed her hand from me, but at least she did as I told her now. If only my body was this obedient. It protested vividly by increasing the pain in the knee as I loaded it with my weight.

With the help of a wonderful post nearby I got back on my feet, concealing most of the trouble I had with standing up. Just how convenient for such a thing to be there. The sarcasm did nothing to ease the pain. Not that I had expected it, but I needed to steam off.

"Go back to your side so we can continue."

"Are you're sure?"

"Of course, this was just the shock. It's all good now."

When her back faced me as she went to her side of the field, I used the net to support me while I tried to get away from the side line.

I had no idea how to continue to play if I couldn't even walk properly. A quick recovery was what I needed and a package of ice.

"Hey, you're bleeding!"

"Just a scrape. I'm not letting something this negligibility mess with our match." I tried to put some weight on my injured leg. Phew, at least I could stand without tearing up.

"You're going this far just to not help him?"

"You bet."

"Fine, it's your turn then." Finally we could finish this, but something was off.

"Huh? Didn't I hit the ball?" I was sure that she was the one to serve in this game.

"You did, but it never touched my side."

So it's 4-4. Urgh, this sucked.

"You're sure you're not making this up?" Was my effort really in vain?

"Prove me wrong then."

Tch. I clicked my tongue.

I served, standing right to the net but Miura didn't say anything about this obvious breach of rules. My ball had no power behind it and Miura returned it effortlessly.

I took a step to the side to reach it and went down on my knee immediately from the pain.

There was no way I could keep this match going and it hurt.

Not just in my knee.

In truth the match had already ended. The light-hearted atmosphere from before was already gone. This was something else already, it was just me being stubborn. I got back up using the racket and she watched my struggle in silence.

"It's so frustrating." I spoke more to myself than to her. "I, I don't want to let the match end like this. Something this fun deserves a better ending. After all we had put into it…"

I took a deep breath.

"I'm asking for postponement. Let's finish this one other day, properly." There was no other way to this and I knew it. I resigned to my fate.

"But…" She was right, there was a catch to it. I was fully aware of that myself. Damn deadlines for real.

"I know, that Hayama's request can't wait this long, so-"

"You'll do it? You'll really help Hayato?" Miura looked so relieved and happy, but her phrasing rubbed me the wrong way so hard I just had to object.

"Listen! I'm not doing this for him, I'll only do this for you!" My voice echoed through the empty school grounds.

"No, I mean..." This came out so very wrong. I only wanted to prevent any connection between Hayama and me. "because I lost the match you see…"

She was already on the move to me, beaming with her dust covered face.  
Rooted in the place due to my knee I couldn't get away in time and was caught by a hand she put on my chest. The burden of it felt too heavy for me.  
Her other arm was wrapping around my waist and she pressed her body against mine in a heartfelt embrace. The wave of a new smell penetrated my nostrils. Our clothes were drenched by the sweat and sticky, and they left no air between the thin layer of textile and the skin. If it weren't for the hard seams of her tennis outfit and bra which dug into my flesh it would have basically felt like our naked bodies were connecting.

Lucky for me that the net separated our hips to prevent another accident of mine, haha.

An awkward joke, but I needed to do it to create an emotional distance from this captivating moment. My heart was still beating too fast from the match.

Any other boy would mistake this situation as very essence of bliss and give into it, maybe even fainted. But not me. I fought against it with all my reasoning.

The hug was entirely undeserved, any form of gratitude was undeserved for I had done nothing worthy of that. So naturally, I-

"Thank you." She whispered.

These words hurt so much, because I wasn't allowed to feel appreciated, I wasn't allowed to enjoy this moment.

I needed to reason with her or my mind would get swept away if this went on any longer.

"Don't thank me, I haven't done anything. All I did was to lose…"

Prompted by my words, Miura's hand went from my chest up to my cheek. So soft.  
I realised immediately that I only made it worse. So dominant, yet so caring, I underestimated her greatly. The Queen wouldn't allow any defence against her emotions.

Physically I was locked as I didn't dare to push my head against her hand and my mind too was not reliable.

Quick! A joke, a distraction, excuse, lie, anything!

Yes, the story with old hag Isehara-sens-

.

.

.

"Thank you." Miura's words brought me back to my senses from a complete blank state.

I nodded helplessly as her face came into my field of vision.

What had happened while I my brain was offline?

The only clue I had was a warm spot on the cheek she hadn't touched with her hand.

Seeing my head agreeing with her on its own, she seemed satisfied and went to pick up the balls that were stopped by the fence.

I should probably help with that. I moved my foot, but it was met with resistance and I heard a noise. There was a racket on the ground that I had kicked with my foot.

It was mine. When did I drop it? I had no recollection of it. Last time I had noticed it was when I used it to get up.

My hand reached out to grab it. But when I thought I had it, it slipped out of my grip and created another thud.

A moment of weakness? No, I looked at my hand and it was shaking a bit.

Weird. Was that because of the match?

I picked up the racket again, carefully this time to not drop it again.

When I looked up, I saw Miura watching at me with an amused smile. Had she seen my blunder? I felt so embarrassed my head heated up even more. Now I needed an ice package for my head as well. Quickly, I turned around and went to the fence behind me and pick up the balls.

My knee still stung, but it was bearable. More so than the eyes watching my back.

We finished to clean up the court quickly and left the equipment next to the storage room as it was locked. All that was left to do was to go home.

A cool evening breeze came and made me shiver. With wet clothes on this was no surprise.

I had my long-sleeved sportswear in my hands, but I couldn't see Miura carrying anything of this sort. Did she come all the way here in this outfit?

Her clothes were as wet as mine and dirty to no end.

"Here." I offered her the clothes I took off before the match got heated. "I know it must be unpleasant to wear clothes by someone else, but at least they're dry."

Especially worn sports attire by others must be extra gross.

"No need to, you know that the cold doesn't bother me."

"Yeah, I know. And there is a certain scarf I remember all too well…"

"Th-this is totally different from that time!" According to her panic, she remembered that incident too.

In this moment we were hit by another chilly wind which made Miura flinch.

For the first time on this day, the universe supported me. I smiled in celebration.

My classmate gave an angry look as if I had casted the wind myself and took the sports gear from my hands.

It would be weird to stand here and watch her putting clothes on, even if she was already dressed.

"I'm going home, goodbye." I declared and walked away as fast as my knee allowed it.

"H-hey wait!" She yelled, but I didn't hear any footsteps. Perhaps she was in the middle of putting on the trousers and couldn't walk.

This was my chance to leave this place with the tiniest possible win, but to be sure she didn't catch up I threw my first curve ball of today at her.

"And 'hello' you rude girl!"

"What?!"

I had not forgotten that she didn't greet me today, and she has been really a rude girl ever since this evening.

Invading my private space so much. Unforgivable. Punishment was due.

I somehow managed to get over the gate without any help, before she caught up.

Justice was served with this. I needed time alone to think anyway… about a big package of ice that is.

At home Komachi was shocked seeing me with a bloody knee and my whole body covered in dirt. She was furious and demanded to know the whereabouts of the delinquents who beat me up.

For some reason she didn't believe me when I said that I had a sport accident outside of the house.

But she was still the best sister in the world. She even prepared a package of ice to cool my knee while I was in the bathroom.

But it wasn't until I had a shower and showed her proof of no further injuries being on my body, that she dropped the topic.

I wanted to bury her in Hachiman points, but she rather played with Kamakura for the rest of the evening, avoiding me completely.

Maybe I should have covered some parts with a towel when I tried to prove her suspicions wrong.

Being left alone with just a package of ice, my mind wandered back to Miura.

Her joy was genuine, her thanks too but…

The kiss on the cheek wasn't true, it wasn't me at all that she had kissed.  
Without her feelings for Hayama she wouldn't have felt so grateful, however undeserved it was from the start.  
I was just the proxy, a valve for her pent-upped emotions that couldn't flow normally as Hayama made sure to keep that valve tightly closed.

I knew all this, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with it.

Miura herself didn't make it any easier with her touchy-feely attitude.  
I knew from my observations that girls tend to act way more intimate among their female friends, than their male counterparts. This too I knew just by observing from the distance, the males that is.

That meant she saw me as a girl then? That was kind of hard to believe, but she definitely didn't see me as one of the opposite sex.

Her not doing so was annoying for some reason…

Not that I absolutely wanted her to. Although it would have some merits, like she wouldn't use me as a drum anymore. At least she didn't do that with Tobe and the other guys.  
And she probably paid attention to bewitch just Hayama alone.

What a troublesome day indeed and I doubted that tomorrow will be any better. I would have to accept Hayama's request and explain my turnaround to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.

Oh boy, oh 'boy' indeed.

* * *

Yumiko PoV

Urgh, my body hurt all over.  
I had decided to go into the bathtub today after the shower in order to relax.

This win was way harder than I imagined. If he hadn't injured himself, I wasn't sure whether I had won at all. And he was a beginner! That did hurt my pride, but it also wouldn't have been as fun as it was if he had been a pushover.

In the end I achieved what I wanted. I was able to help Hayato.

I was so excited when he asked me to help him for once yesterday, he's never done that before. Not even Tobe, his best pal. I felt so special.

When I heard today that he actually asked quite a few people besides me, I was kinda miffed about it at first.

But this didn't change anything for me, I won't let him down. And if he needed all the people he could get, I would help him with that too.

However, there was no need for that. Hina agreed right away when Hayato asked her, and Isshiki was a ready to do it before he even explained what he needed help with.

Probably the whole school would have agreed to help him right away. He was just that popular with everyone.

So it came quite as a shock that the only guys not helping him, were inside a club created to help others.

Hayato didn't say it directly, but I could guess it was because of Hikio when he talked about it. Yui's case was crystal-clear, she would have helped just like anyone else. There was a chance that it was Yukinoshita-san who blocked the club from helping. I mean she did have quite the fallout with Hayato at the summer camp, despite being childhood friends basically. But after incident with the rumour before the marathon, I guess that repaired that somewhat.

And I saw Hikio rejecting Hayato before. Even when he bowed to him! Didn't that make Hikio the only guy Hayato asked for help? Everything about the relationship between this two was so weird. Cause despite that, I saw them with two girls the day after that.

Also I had the feeling that Hikio avoided talking about Hayato…

If only I knew what was going on between them. Surely it wasn't what Ebina imagined. I mean, there was no way. Just no way!

He tried so hard to win today, disregarding his own health. It surprised me just how strong his refusal to help Hayato really was. It surprised me, and it made me sad.

But it would be nice for them to get along better. At least enough so that we could all hang out together and have a blast. Hayato probably tried his best, he goes to Hikio from time to time in class too.

Hopefully, helping Hayato will be enough to achieve that. And if not, I will work on that myself.

But why wouldn't they get along? They were both the most helpful people I knew. How often did Hayato aid someone? Countless times! People were basically etching to repay all the favours he has done to them.

And Hikio too. Just this school year he helped me out like what? Four or five times? And there were surely a bunch of other people going to the club too. Like there was that girl there too, I even saw Kawasaki there when I asked about the handmade chocolate.

Then just why did he refuse Hayato? He said it was to protect the club, but I didn't understand that. I mean the club was to help people anyway, right? And he worked so hard for it too.

Thinking of this, Hikio was probably in the bathtub just like me. He couldn't even pick up his racket, that's how feeble he was at the end. It was hilarious! Also kinda impressive. I mean, to give your very last strength for a club. That needed quite the willpower.

With him on our side, we will be able to help Hayato out.

But wouldn't it be bad if he overshadowed me?

That just meant I'll have to even work harder than him.

I needed to keep an eye on him too. That he receives and accepts the thanks for his help. He could get so stubborn with that. It would do him so good after all he has been through.

And that running away after he was being nice to someone, I needed to put an end to that as well. Like after the giving me the candy or with his clothes today.

To straighten Hikio out might prove to be quite the task.

But helping out Hayato came first and that I did today. I was sad that I couldn't really tell him what I did though. Saying that Hikio only helped him because I went ahead and forced him to... it would make me look more bad than good.

Oh no! What if Hikio jabbered about it? Picturing me as some kind of slaveholder would be super bad! I had to make sure that he kept his mouth shut with a message.

In my panic I quickly grabbed the phone to type a short text. The quicker the better.

I had no doubt that Hikio wouldn't comply.

* * *

[1] short for Eiga Rinri Kikou, Japan's film rating organisation

[2] On his own birthday he waited 3 hours 19 minutes before replying to Komachi's birthday greeting, Vol. 5

[3] Taishi revealed that about Saki to Hachiman via texts in Vol. 5, she found out about it too

[4] We learn that he uses his phone for porn watching in Vol.

[5] Haruno used the term 'meddlesome girlfriend' as a possible description for her relationship to Hachiman in front of Orimoto in Vol. 8

[6] A kotatsu is a table with a heater attached to it and a blanket to keep the warmth in place

[7] The communicator scene was in the anime, but there also was a passage in the LN in which these two spend time together during the festival

[8] mixture of Hachiman and Shish Kabob.

[9] Fun fact: In Vol 2 there was a weird description of Hayama having brown hair and wearing glasses with a trendy frame. I'll go by how he is shown later in the LN series and the anime though as this was a one-time only description.

[10] The car accident from when he entered High-school inflicted this kind of injury on him according to LN Vol. 1

[11] Chopper Reaction from One Piece when he denies a comment makes him happy.

[12] From Neon Genesis Evangelion, episode 8 and beyond.

[13] Vol 8. He used Haruno to force Hachiman coming to the double date with Orimoto and Nakamachi

[14] reoccurring lie by Usopp of the Straw Hat Pirates

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **The chapter's content was pretty obvious for the first two days. Komachi's birthday was unavoidable due to it being dated within the LNs and Yukino's turn with Hachiman had been established quite a few chapters back. This also meant that there was little to no space for Yumiko, so I hope that the third day compensated somewhat for it.**

 **The initial intent was to try and write a more action-focused scene, but the nature of tennis made it quite restrictive. Most likely I will try that again in a crossover with a battle-series to have more freedom without it getting so repetitive after this story is completed.**

 **Hayama made a brief appearance to expose the feelings of our main characters for him. There is little room to debate Yumiko's view on him, which at the same time highlights Hayama's importance to any Yumiko and Hachiman fanfiction that has a school setting with him present. But for Hachiman there are various approaches possible, which largely depend on how serious the 'hate confession' is perceived and whether Hachiman's 'good guy' label for Hayama is meant all that positively. That's why I hope you can get behind with how I presented their relationship.**

 **With how long it takes till the tournament it is pretty clear that the next chapter will entirely focus on the request. What would a lengthy fanfiction be without one, right? Just keep in mind that Hachiman approaches those a bit differently in the later stages of the volume compared to the insanely popular solutions to the earlier requests.**

 ** ** **Now for the reviews. As always I will address those with issues or questions, but I would like to thank for each of them this time. They really helped in not getting too distracted by other things and were key to keep a healthy balance in using the little bit of free time I have between different hobbies of mine.  
******

 **15Pandabears** The planned stories I had mentioned below chapter 6 in a reply will be new stories except for the side stories which will be epilogue stories. My interpretations of the character's personalities won't change of course. However, I won't write them before this one is finished.

 **Red Glasses** I don't aim for a certain total count of words, I would fail at it horribly anyway. Today's chapter was expected to be around 20k words. It will take as many words as I need to tell my story and chapters, I guess. I do have concerns about scenes ending up too long though. Only few people would like to read 5k words on the same scene, in the same tone. I try to add enough diversity to keep it from getting boring.

 **AC75** Thanks for mentioning the mistakes. To correct them is still on my radar, but with the long duration between a chapter's release the urge to finish them quicker by focusing on them was stronger so far. I would feel bad if I triggered a notification like three months after the last release from a mere spelling correction, when everybody was expecting a new chapter already. If I find a good opportunity to do it, I will!

 **Mizuru-chi** He broke out in tears when he talked about it and it even moved Iroha who was eavesdropping behind the door, so I estimated that he really is serious about it. I think that he might force himself a bit too as he is considerate to make it a good experience for his partners as well. About Komachi's birthday, I only realised that it needed to happen during a reread for chapter 7.

 **Talilover** I see your concerns and I had the same to be honest. But I decided in favour of using certain landmarks within the story as end points of a chapter rather than the word count. The chapter's are usually focused on certain topics/stages within their relationship. It makes it easier for me and the reader to keep track of the development when comparing the chapters to each other. If you feel like getting bored with a chapter I advise you to put it on hold and continue it a few days later with a refreshed interest. This works for me when I read books that get sometimes a bit chewy at least.

 **The Sixth Day of Division** Thank you for the detailed review and I'm glad that you found these subtle details and enjoyed them after rereading the chapters. Some of them will play a huge role in the future, others just serve/d as a gimmick for the careful reader. Balancing them between not giving away too much on the future and not making them pointless is hard at times. I hope to reduce these awkward phrasings more than anyone else. In regards to polishing the interactions between characters, it's a tough battle between not losing the essence of a scene and making it feel like a natural interaction without dragging it for too long. I'm still experimenting with it and will keep in mind that you prefer the later tries more.

 **Ichigo Oga** I wanted to read volume 12 myself but I haven't gotten around to it yet. YenPress might even release the English version before I can get to it.

 ** ** **If there is something you want to ask about, just do so. Answers will come with the next chapter.  
So hopefully I'll see you at chapter 9 again.******


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